Game program, game system, game device, and game processing method

Abstract

To provide a game program, a game system, a game device, and a game processing method configured to execute a game in which materials are reflected in appearance or effects generated in a game, for an object based on voxel data.SOLUTION: A game program includes: changing at least one of material IDs, for each of voxels corresponding to a voxel update range, to a different material ID, and updating a display mesh in association with the updated voxel data; generating effects in the game according to the material of determination mesh in a collision position, based on a collision decision between the determination mesh determined based on a plurality of material IDs included in voxel data that includes materials at least and a determination shape corresponding to a determination target; and drawing a virtual space including the display mesh based on vertex coordinates of the display mesh and texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 28

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a game program, a game system, a game device, and a game processing method for generating an object in a virtual space using voxel data.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, objects have been managed using voxel data, and a mesh of an object has been generated in a virtual space based on the voxel data (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0003]

Non-Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In a game, it is desired to reflect a material in the appearance of an object and the actions that occur in the game.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a game program, a game system, a game device, and a game processing method capable of executing a game in which a material is reflected in the appearance of an object based on voxel data and the actions that occur in the game.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention can adopt, for example, the following configurations (1) to (10).

[0007] (1) One configuration example of the game program of the present invention is that on a computer of an information processing apparatus, voxel data defined in a virtual space, for each of a plurality of voxels, a density indicating the degree to which the space defined by the voxel is virtually occupied by the content, and a material ID indicating the type of the content, and a material ID that can be set up to a first plurality is at least set. Based on the voxel data, a display mesh corresponding to the voxel data and drawn based on a virtual camera is generated. The vertex coordinates of the display mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the display mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of material IDs included in the voxel data. A voxel update range is generated in the virtual space based on game processing. In response to the generation of the voxel update range, for each of the voxels in the virtual space corresponding to the voxel update range among the voxel data, at least any one of the material IDs is changed to a different material ID, and the display mesh is updated corresponding to the updated voxel data. A determination mesh used for collision determination in the virtual space, the vertex coordinates of the determination mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the determination mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of material IDs included in the voxel data. Based on the collision determination between the determination mesh and a determination shape corresponding to a determination target based on game processing, a game action corresponding to the material of the determination mesh at the collision position is generated, and based on the vertex coordinates of the display mesh and a texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh, the virtual space including the display mesh is drawn.

[0008] According to the configuration of the above (1), during the game, while updating the material of the voxels, the game can be advanced by reflecting the update in the appearance and actions.

[0009] (2) In the configuration of (1) above, when a first event occurs in the game, the computer may generate a first voxel update range among a plurality of types of voxel update ranges, and for each voxel having a first material ID among the voxels corresponding to the first voxel update range, change the first material ID to a second material ID.

[0010] According to the configuration of (2) above, in response to the occurrence of the first event, the appearance based on the first material ID can be changed to the appearance based on the second material ID, and the effect based on the first material ID can be changed to the effect based on the second material ID, and the game can be advanced.

[0011] (3) In the configuration of (2) above, the computer may generate a first voxel update range at the collision position based on the collision determination between a first object having a third material ID and a determination mesh.

[0012] According to the configuration of (3) above, by colliding a first object having a third material ID, the material of the voxels can be updated, and the update can be reflected in the appearance and effect.

[0013] (4) In the configuration of (3) above, the first object may be associated with unique voxel data independent of the voxel data, the position in the virtual space of the unique voxel space defined by the unique voxel data, and a unique display mesh and a unique determination mesh based on the unique voxel data. Based on the collision determination between the first object and the determination mesh, the computer may reduce the density in the unique voxel data of the first object.

[0014] According to the configuration of (4) above, the size of the collided first object can be reduced.

[0015] (5) In the configuration of (4) above, the computer may control a player character in the virtual space based on an operation input, and move the first object in a predetermined direction based on a first action of the player character corresponding to the operation input.

[0016] According to the configuration of (5) above, by performing an operation that causes an action of the player character that moves the first object in a predetermined direction, a first event that causes the first object to collide can be generated.

[0017] (6) In the configuration of (2) above, the computer may control a player character in the virtual space based on an operation input, and if the material of the determination mesh at the collision position is the first material ID based on the collision between the player character and the determination mesh, the set physical strength of the player character may be decreased.

[0018] According to the configuration of (6) above, the material that the player character receives damage from can be changed to a material that does not receive damage.

[0019] (7) In any one of the configurations of (1) to (6) above, in the voxel data, for each voxel, a voxel internal ratio indicating the ratio of the material indicated by the material ID within the voxel may be further set.

[0020] According to the configuration of (7) above, the material can be determined by reflecting the ratios of a plurality of materials set in one voxel.

[0021] (8) In the configuration of (7) above, when a second event occurs in the game, the computer may generate a second voxel update range among a plurality of types of voxel update ranges, and among the voxel IDs of the voxels that do not have the fourth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the second voxel update range, the material ID with the lowest ratio based on the in-voxel ratio may be changed to the fourth material ID.

[0022] According to the configuration of (8) above, when changing the material of a voxel in which a plurality of materials are set in response to the occurrence of a second event, it can be changed in an appropriate manner.

[0023] (9) In any one of the configurations of (1) to (8) above, the computer may further control the player character based on an operation input, cause the player character to perform a second action based on a predetermined operation input, and when the second action is performed, generate a third voxel update range and a fourth voxel update range larger than the third voxel update range among a plurality of types of voxel update ranges with respect to a predetermined direction from the player character, reduce the density of at least a part of the voxels corresponding to the third voxel update range, change all the material IDs of the voxels corresponding to the fourth voxel update range to a fifth material ID, or change any one of the material IDs to the fifth material ID and set the in-voxel ratio to the ratio at which all within the voxel becomes the material indicated by the fifth material ID.

[0024] According to the configuration of (9) above, when the player character performs a second action, the update range based on the direction of the player character can be changed to the material corresponding to the fifth material ID.

[0025] (10) In the configuration of (9) above, when a second action is performed on the computer, the computer may be caused to generate a fifth voxel update range that is larger than the fourth voxel update range, and the material ID with the smallest ratio based on the in-voxel ratio may be changed to the fifth material ID in the material IDs of the voxels that do not have the fifth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the fifth voxel update range.

[0026] According to the configuration of (10) above, a part of the materials in the peripheral range changed to the material corresponding to the fifth material ID can be changed to the material corresponding to the fifth material ID.

[0027] Further, the present invention may be implemented in the form of a game system, a game device, and a game processing method.

Advantages of the Invention

[0028] According to the present invention, while updating the material of the voxel during the game, the game can be advanced by reflecting the update in appearance and action.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0029]

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0030] [1. Configuration of the Game System] Hereinafter, a game system according to an example of the present embodiment will be described. An example of the game system 1 in the present embodiment includes a main body device (information processing device; functioning as a game device main body in the present embodiment) 2, a left controller 3, and a right controller 4. The left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are each detachable from the main body device 2. That is, the game system 1 can be used as a device in which the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are each attached to the main body device 2 and integrated. Also, the game system 1 can be used with the main body device 2, the left controller 3, and the right controller 4 as separate entities (see FIG. 2). Hereinafter, the hardware configuration of the game system 1 of the present embodiment will be described, and then the control of the game system 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

[0031] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a left controller 3 and a right controller 4 are attached to a main body device 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are respectively attached to the main body device 2 and integrated. The main body device 2 is a device that executes various processes (for example, game processes) in the game system 1. The main body device 2 includes a display 12. The left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are devices that include an operation unit for a user to input.

[0032] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are respectively removed from the main body device 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are detachable from the main body device 2. In the following, the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 may be collectively referred to as a "controller".

[0033] FIG. 3 is a six-sided view showing an example of the main body device 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the main body device 2 includes a substantially plate-shaped housing 11. In the present embodiment, the main surface of the housing 11 (in other words, the front surface, that is, the surface on which the display 12 is provided) is generally rectangular in shape.

[0034] Note that the shape and size of the housing 11 are arbitrary. As an example, the housing 11 may be of a portable size. Also, the main body device 2 alone or the integrated device in which the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are attached to the main body device 2 may be a portable device. Further, the main body device 2 or the integrated device may be a hand-held device. Also, the main body device 2 or the integrated device may be a transportable device.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 3, the main body device 2 includes a display 12 provided on the main surface of the housing 11. The display 12 displays an image generated by the main body device 2. In the present embodiment, the display 12 is a liquid crystal display device (LCD). However, the display 12 may be any type of display device.

[0036] Further, the main body device 2 includes a touch panel 13 on the screen of the display 12. In the present embodiment, the touch panel 13 is of a type (for example, a capacitance type) capable of multi-touch input. However, the touch panel 13 may be of any type, for example, a type (for example, a resistive film type) capable of single-touch input.

[0037] The main body device 2 includes a speaker (that is, the speaker 88 shown in FIG. 6) inside the housing 11. As shown in FIG. 3, speaker holes 11a and 11b are formed in the main surface of the housing 11. Then, the output sound of the speaker 88 is output from these speaker holes 11a and 11b, respectively.

[0038] The main body device 2 also includes a left terminal 17 which is a terminal for the main body device 2 to perform wired communication with the left controller 3, and a right terminal 21 for the main body device 2 to perform wired communication with the right controller 4.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 3, the main body device 2 includes a slot 23. The slot 23 is provided on the upper surface of the housing 11. The slot 23 has a shape capable of mounting a predetermined type of storage medium. The predetermined type of storage medium is, for example, a storage medium (for example, a dedicated memory card) dedicated to the game system 1 and information processing devices of the same type. The predetermined type of storage medium is used, for example, to store data (for example, save data of an application, etc.) used in the main body device 2 and / or programs (for example, application programs, etc.) executed by the main body device 2. Further, the main body device 2 includes a power button 28.

[0040] The main body device 2 includes a lower terminal 27. The lower terminal 27 is a terminal for the main body device 2 to communicate with the cradle. In the present embodiment, the lower terminal 27 is a USB connector (more specifically, a female connector). When the integrated device or the main body device 2 alone is placed on the cradle, the game system 1 can display an image generated and output by the main body device 2 on a stationary monitor. Also, in the present embodiment, the cradle has a function of charging the placed integrated device or the main body device 2 alone. Further, the cradle has a function of a hub device (specifically, a USB hub).

[0041] FIG. 4 is a six-sided view showing an example of the left controller 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the left controller 3 includes a housing 31. In the present embodiment, the housing 31 has a vertically long shape, that is, a shape that is long in the vertical direction (that is, the y-axis direction shown in FIGS. 1 and 4). When the left controller 3 is in a state removed from the main body device 2, it can also be held in a vertically long orientation. The housing 31 has a shape and size that can be held with one hand, particularly the left hand, when held in a vertically long orientation. Also, the left controller 3 can be held in a horizontally long orientation. When the left controller 3 is held in a horizontally long orientation, it may be held with both hands.

[0042] The left controller 3 includes an analog stick 32. As shown in FIG. 4, the analog stick 32 is provided on the main surface of the housing 31. The analog stick 32 can be used as a direction input unit capable of inputting a direction. The user can input a direction corresponding to the tilting direction (and an input of a magnitude corresponding to the tilted angle) by tilting the analog stick 32. Note that the left controller 3 may be provided with a cross key or a slide stick capable of slide input, etc. instead of the analog stick as a direction input unit. Also, in the present embodiment, it is possible to input by pressing the analog stick 32.

[0043] The left controller 3 is provided with various operation buttons. The left controller 3 has four operation buttons 33 to 36 (specifically, a right direction button 33, a down direction button 34, an up direction button 35, and a left direction button 36) on the main surface of the housing 31. Further, the left controller 3 is provided with a recording button 37 and a -(minus) button 47. The left controller 3 has a first L button 38 and a ZL button 39 at the upper left of the side surface of the housing 31. Also, the left controller 3 has a second L button 43 and a second R button 44 on the side surface of the housing 31 on the side where it is attached when attached to the main body device 2. These operation buttons are used to give instructions according to various programs (for example, an OS program or an application program) executed by the main body device 2.

[0044] Also, the left controller 3 is provided with a terminal 42 for the left controller 3 to perform wired communication with the main body device 2.

[0045] FIG. 5 is a six-sided view showing an example of the right controller 4. As shown in FIG. 5, the right controller 4 includes a housing 51. In the present embodiment, the housing 51 has a vertically long shape, that is, a shape that is long in the vertical direction. The right controller 4 can also be gripped in a vertically long orientation when removed from the main body device 2. The housing 51 has a shape and size that can be gripped with one hand, particularly the right hand, when gripped in a vertically long orientation. Also, the right controller 4 can be gripped in a horizontally long orientation. When the right controller 4 is gripped in a horizontally long orientation, it may be gripped with both hands.

[0046] Similar to the left controller 3, the right controller 4 is provided with an analog stick 52 as a direction input unit. In the present embodiment, the analog stick 52 has the same configuration as the analog stick 32 of the left controller 3. Also, instead of the analog stick, the right controller 4 may be provided with a cross key or a slide stick capable of slide input. Further, similar to the left controller 3, the right controller 4 is provided with four operation buttons 53 to 56 (specifically, an A button 53, a B button 54, an X button 55, and a Y button 56) on the main surface of the housing 51. Furthermore, the right controller 4 is provided with a + (plus) button 57 and a home button 58. Also, the right controller 4 is provided with a first R button 60 and a ZR button 61 at the upper right of the side surface of the housing 51. Moreover, similar to the left controller 3, the right controller 4 is provided with a second L button 65 and a second R button 66.

[0047] In addition, the right controller 4 is provided with a terminal 64 for the right controller 4 to perform wired communication with the main body device 2.

[0048] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the main body device 2. In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the main body device 2 includes each of the components 81 to 91, 97, and 98 shown in FIG. 6. Some of these components 81 to 91, 97, and 98 may be mounted on an electronic circuit board as electronic components and housed in the housing 11.

[0049] The main body device 2 includes a processor 81. The processor 81 is an information processing unit that executes various information processes executed in the main body device 2. For example, it may be composed of only a CPU (Central Processing Unit), or it may be composed of a SoC (System-on-a-chip) including a plurality of functions such as a CPU function and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) function. The processor 81 executes various information processes by executing an information processing program (for example, a game program) stored in a storage unit (specifically, an internal storage medium such as a flash memory 84, or an external storage medium mounted on the slot 23, etc.).

[0050] As an example of an internal storage medium built into the main body device 2, the main body device 2 includes a flash memory 84 and a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 85. The flash memory 84 and the DRAM 85 are connected to the processor 81. The flash memory 84 is mainly a memory used to store various data (which may be a program) stored in the main body device 2. The DRAM 85 is a memory used to temporarily store various data used in information processing.

[0051] The main body device 2 includes a slot interface (hereinafter abbreviated as "I / F") 91. The slot I / F 91 is connected to the processor 81. The slot I / F 91 is connected to the slot 23, and reads and writes data to and from a predetermined type of storage medium (for example, a dedicated memory card) mounted on the slot 23 according to an instruction from the processor 81.

[0052] The processor 81 appropriately reads and writes data between the flash memory 84, the DRAM 85, and each of the above storage media to execute the above information processing.

[0053] The main body device 2 includes a network communication unit 82. The network communication unit 82 is connected to the processor 81. The network communication unit 82 communicates (specifically, wirelessly) with an external device via a network. In the present embodiment, the network communication unit 82 connects to a wireless LAN and communicates with an external device by a method compliant with the Wi-Fi standard as a first communication mode. Further, the network communication unit 82 performs wireless communication with other main body devices 2 of the same type by a predetermined communication method (for example, communication by a proprietary protocol or infrared communication) as a second communication mode. Note that the wireless communication by the second communication mode enables wireless communication with other main body devices 2 arranged within a closed local network area, and realizes a function enabling so-called "local communication" in which data is transmitted and received by direct communication between a plurality of main body devices 2.

[0054] The main body device 2 includes a controller communication unit 83. The controller communication unit 83 is connected to the processor 81. The controller communication unit 83 performs wireless communication with the left controller 3 and / or the right controller 4. The communication method between the main body device 2 and the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 is arbitrary. In the present embodiment, the controller communication unit 83 communicates with the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 in accordance with the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard.

[0055] The processor 81 is connected to the above-described left terminal 17, right terminal 21, and lower terminal 27. When the processor 81 performs wired communication with the left controller 3, it transmits data to the left controller 3 via the left terminal 17 and receives operation data from the left controller 3 via the left terminal 17. Also, when the processor 81 performs wired communication with the right controller 4, it transmits data to the right controller 4 via the right terminal 21 and receives operation data from the right controller 4 via the right terminal 21. Further, when the processor 81 communicates with the cradle, it transmits data to the cradle via the lower terminal 27. Thus, in the present embodiment, the main body device 2 can perform both wired communication and wireless communication with the left controller 3 and the right controller 4, respectively. Also, when the left controller 3 and the right controller 4 are attached to the main body device 2 as an integrated device or when the main body device 2 alone is attached to the cradle, the main body device 2 can output data (e.g., image data and audio data) to a stationary monitor or the like via the cradle.

[0056] Here, the main body device 2 can communicate with a plurality of left controllers 3 simultaneously (in other words, in parallel). Also, the main body device 2 can communicate with a plurality of right controllers 4 simultaneously (in other words, in parallel). Therefore, a plurality of users can simultaneously input to the main body device 2 using sets of the left controller 3 and the right controller 4, respectively. As an example, while a first user inputs to the main body device 2 using a first set of the left controller 3 and the right controller 4, it is possible for a second user to input to the main body device 2 using a second set of the left controller 3 and the right controller 4.

[0057] Also, the display 12 is connected to the processor 81. The processor 81 displays an image generated (e.g., by executing the above-described information processing) and / or an image acquired from the outside on the display 12.

[0058] The main body device 2 includes a codec circuit 87 and speakers (specifically, a left speaker and a right speaker) 88. The codec circuit 87 is connected to the speakers 88 and the audio input / output terminal 25, and is also connected to the processor 81. The codec circuit 87 is a circuit that controls the input / output of audio data to / from the speakers 88 and the audio input / output terminal 25.

[0059] The main body device 2 includes a power control unit 97 and a battery 98. The power control unit 97 is connected to the battery 98 and the processor 81. Also, although not shown, the power control unit 97 is connected to each part of the main body device 2 (specifically, each part that receives power supply from the battery 98, the left terminal 17, and the right terminal 21). The power control unit 97 controls the power supply from the battery 98 to each of the above parts based on a command from the processor 81.

[0060] Also, the battery 98 is connected to the lower terminal 27. When an external charging device (for example, a cradle) is connected to the lower terminal 27 and power is supplied to the main body device 2 via the lower terminal 27, the supplied power is charged to the battery 98.

[0061] FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the main body device 2, the left controller 3, and the right controller 4. Note that the details of the internal configuration of the main body device 2 are shown in FIG. 6, so they are omitted in FIG. 7.

[0062] The left controller 3 includes a communication control unit 101 that communicates with the main body device 2. As shown in FIG. 7, the communication control unit 101 is connected to each component including the terminal 42. In the present embodiment, the communication control unit 101 can communicate with the main body device 2 by both wired communication via the terminal 42 and wireless communication without using the terminal 42. The communication control unit 101 controls the communication method that the left controller 3 performs with respect to the main body device 2. That is, when the left controller 3 is attached to the main body device 2, the communication control unit 101 communicates with the main body device 2 via the terminal 42. Further, when the left controller 3 is detached from the main body device 2, the communication control unit 101 performs wireless communication with the main body device 2 (specifically, the controller communication unit 83). The wireless communication between the controller communication unit 83 and the communication control unit 101 is performed in accordance with, for example, the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard.

[0063] Further, the left controller 3 includes a memory 102 such as a flash memory. The communication control unit 101 is configured by, for example, a microcomputer (also referred to as a microprocessor) and executes various processes by executing the firmware stored in the memory 102.

[0064] The left controller 3 includes each button 103 (specifically, buttons 33 to 39, 43, 44, and 47). Further, the left controller 3 includes an analog stick (described as "stick" in FIG. 7) 32. Each button 103 and the analog stick 32 output information regarding the operation performed on themselves to the communication control unit 101 repeatedly at appropriate timings.

[0065] The communication control unit 101 acquires information related to input (specifically, information related to operations or detection results by sensors) from each input unit (specifically, each button 103 and the analog stick 32). The communication control unit 101 transmits operation data including the acquired information (or information obtained by performing predetermined processing on the acquired information) to the main body device 2. Note that the operation data is repeatedly transmitted at a rate of once every predetermined time. Note that the intervals at which the information related to input is transmitted to the main body device 2 may be the same or different for each input unit.

[0066] When the above operation data is transmitted to the main body device 2, the main body device 2 can obtain the input performed on the left controller 3. That is, the main body device 2 can determine the operations on each button 103 and the analog stick 32 based on the operation data.

[0067] The left controller 3 includes a power supply unit 108. In the present embodiment, the power supply unit 108 has a battery and a power control circuit. Although not shown, the power control circuit is connected to the battery and is also connected to each part of the left controller 3 (specifically, each part that receives power supply from the battery).

[0068] As shown in FIG. 7, the right controller 4 includes a communication control unit 111 that communicates with the main body device 2. The right controller 4 also includes a memory 112 connected to the communication control unit 111. The communication control unit 111 is connected to each component including the terminal 64. The communication control unit 111 and the memory 112 have the same functions as the communication control unit 101 and the memory 102 of the left controller 3. Therefore, the communication control unit 111 can communicate with the main body device 2 both by wired communication via the terminal 64 and by wireless communication without using the terminal 64 (specifically, communication according to the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard), and controls the communication method that the right controller 4 performs with the main body device 2.

[0069] The right controller 4 includes the same input units as those of the left controller 3. Specifically, it includes each button 113 and the analog stick 52. These input units have the same functions as those of the input units of the left controller 3 and operate in the same manner.

[0070] The right controller 4 includes a power supply unit 118. The power supply unit 118 has the same function as the power supply unit 108 of the left controller 3 and operates in the same manner.

[0071] [2. Overview of Processing in the Game System] Next, with reference to FIGS. 8 to 24, an overview of the processing executed in the game system 1 will be described. In the present embodiment, the game system 1 generates a game image in which terrain objects and characters (for example, player characters operated by a player) are arranged in a game space, which is a three-dimensional virtual space, and causes the display device to display it. In the present embodiment, the display device on which the game image is displayed may be the above-described display 12 or a stationary monitor.

[0072] [2-1. Voxels] In the present embodiment, for some objects in the game space, the shape is defined by voxel data. Here, a voxel is a rectangular parallelepiped (more specifically, a cubic) region arranged in a grid pattern in the game space, and voxel data is data indicating information regarding each voxel. Hereinafter, an object whose shape is defined by voxel data will be referred to as a "voxel object". In the present embodiment, the game system 1 stores voxel data as data for generating voxel objects in the game space for a plurality of voxels set in the game space.

[0073] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a terrain object that is a voxel object. As shown in FIG. 8, in the present embodiment, a terrain object representing a terrain such as the ground is defined in shape by voxel data (that is, it is a voxel object). Each cube shown in FIG. 8 represents a terrain object. In FIG. 8, the portions that are the sides of the terrain object are shown as thick lines, but these thick lines are added for the purpose of making the drawing easier to view, and in reality, it is not necessary for the sides of the terrain object to be thickly displayed.

[0074] The terrain object shown in FIG. 8 is generated, for example, according to the rule that "when the parameter included in the voxel data set in the voxel is greater than a predetermined value, a cube is placed at the position of the voxel, and when it is less than or equal to the predetermined value, nothing is placed at the position of the voxel". The terrain object shown in FIG. 8 is shown for the purpose of clearly exemplifying the relationship between the voxel and the voxel object. In the present embodiment, in reality, for example, like the terrain object shown in FIG. 13 described later, a voxel object is generated according to a rule that results in a complex shape (based on voxel data). Note that the rule for determining the shape of the voxel object based on the voxel data is arbitrary. In other embodiments, the game system 1 may generate a voxel object as shown in FIG. 8 or a voxel object as shown in FIG. 13 based on the object data.

[0075] Regarding the voxel object, the shape can be changed by changing the voxel data of each voxel. FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams showing an example of the state before and after a part of the terrain object shown in FIG. 8 is deleted. That is, when the hatched portion of the terrain object shown in FIG. 9 is destroyed, the terrain object changes to the shape shown in FIG. 10. At this time, the game system 1 can easily erase the terrain object by rewriting the voxel data described later so as to indicate that there is no terrain object for the voxels in the hatched portion. Note that when the game system 1 adds a terrain object, it can easily change the shape of the terrain object by changing the voxel data of each voxel in the same manner as when erasing the terrain object.

[0076] In this way, the game system 1 can freely change the shape of the voxel object by rewriting the voxel data. For example, when the shape of a terrain object is changed as a result of being destroyed for some reason (e.g., a player character strikes the terrain object) in the game, the game system 1 does not directly change the data indicating the outer shape of the terrain object (i.e., the mesh described later), but can freely change the shape of the terrain object by changing the voxel data used for generating the terrain object.

[0077] In this embodiment, it is assumed that voxels are defined throughout the game space (that is, the voxel space in which voxels are set corresponds to the entire game space). However, the voxel space does not necessarily have to be set throughout the game space and may be set in a partial area of the game space. When the voxel space is set in a partial area of the game space, the shape of the voxel object is defined by voxel data regarding the voxels in the voxel space, and the position of the voxel object in the game space is defined by the position of the voxel space in the game space. Also, in the game space, a main voxel space set throughout the game space and a sub-voxel space set in a partial area of the game space may be set. At this time, the game system 1 stores voxel data for each voxel space.

[0078] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of voxel data. The voxel data includes density data, a first material ID, a second material ID, material mixing ratio data, and state data for each voxel defined in the game space. In the voxel data in this embodiment, these data are set for each voxel.

[0079] The density data indicates the density, which is an index used to define the shape of the voxel object based on the voxel (specifically, the shape defined by a mesh described later). Although details will be described later, the position and shape of the surface of the voxel object (that is, the mesh described later) are determined based on the above density.

[0080] In this embodiment, the density can take an integer value in the range from a lower limit value (e.g., 0) to an upper limit value (e.g., 255). In this embodiment, in the game system 1, when the value of the density set for a voxel is high, the ratio of the volume occupied by the region within the voxel object in the voxel tends to be large, and when the value of the density is low, the ratio tends to be small. Based on the density, the surface shape of the voxel object is determined. In this way, the density is an index that affects the ratio of the volume occupied by the region within the voxel object in the voxel. It can also be said that the density is an index indicating the degree to which the space of the voxel is virtually occupied by the content (i.e., the virtual content of the voxel object). For example, when the density is 0, the inside of the voxel is empty, when the density is 255, the entire inside of the voxel is the content of the voxel object, and when the density is a value between 0 and 255, the inside of the voxel can be occupied by the content of the voxel object at a ratio corresponding to the value. Then, based on the above density, the shape of the mesh, that is, the surface shape of the voxel object can be determined. The mesh can also be said to be the surface of the part where the content exists in the voxel, or the boundary between the part where the content exists and the part where it does not exist in the voxel. Note that the volume occupied by the region within the voxel object generated based on the above density does not necessarily have to be exactly the same as the volume corresponding to the ratio indicated by the density. For example, in the method of generating a voxel object as shown in FIG. 8 and the method of generating a voxel object as shown in FIG. 13, even if they are based on the same density, the volume of the voxel object may be different.

[0081] In other embodiments, the density may indicate either a state in which the volume occupied by the region within the voxel object occupies the entire region within the voxel or a state in which the volume occupied by the region within the voxel object is not included in the region within the voxel. For example, the density data may be data that can only take 0 or 1.

[0082] The first material ID and the second material ID are information indicating the material (in other words, substance) of the voxel. Here, in the present embodiment, materials such as sand, rock, or soil are set for the voxel. Note that in the game system 1, a plurality of types of materials are prepared as materials that can be set for the voxel (refer to the material data shown in FIG. 12). In the present embodiment, up to two materials out of the plurality of types of prepared materials can be set for one voxel. The first material ID is an ID indicating the first material set for the voxel, and the second material ID is an ID indicating the second material set for the voxel. Although details will be described later, the material of the voxel object (that is, the material set for the polygon of the voxel object) is determined based on the material set for the voxel.

[0083] As described above, in the present embodiment, the voxel data includes the ID indicating the material. However, in other embodiments, the voxel data may be a data structure including data directly indicating the content of the material (that is, the name, properties, and drawing setting information described later).

[0084] The material mixing ratio data is an example of data indicating the ratio of each material in the voxel. In the present embodiment, since the number of material IDs set for one voxel is up to two, the material mixing ratio data indicating the ratio of one of the materials indicated by the first material ID and the material indicated by the second material ID can also represent the ratio of the other. In the present embodiment, the material mixing ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the second material to the whole composed of the first material and the second material by a value of 0 or more and 1 or less. For example, when the material mixing ratio set for a certain voxel is 0.4, it represents that in the voxel, the first material and the second material are composed in a ratio of 0.6:0.4. Although details will be described later, the appearance and properties of the voxel object are determined based on the material. The material mixing ratio is used to determine the appearance and properties of the voxel object. In other embodiments, the material mixing ratio may be a value indicating the ratio of the first material. Also, the ratio of the materials in the voxel may be represented by respective values indicating the ratio of each material. In particular, in other embodiments, when three or more types of materials can be set instead of up to two types, the ratio of the materials in the voxel is represented as a plurality of values respectively indicating the ratio of each material.

[0085] Note that in the present embodiment, it is not always necessary to set two types of materials for the voxel, and one type of material may be set. For example, when one type of material is set for a certain voxel, the first material ID indicates the material, and the material mixing ratio is set to 0.

[0086] The state data indicates the state set for the voxel. The specific content and number of types of the state data are arbitrary. In the present embodiment, the state data includes data indicating the amount of damage set for the voxel. Note that in other embodiments, the state data may include, for example, data indicating whether the voxel is in a wet state (and the degree thereof).

[0087] As described above, in this embodiment, since the voxel data includes the material ID, the game system 1 stores material data that defines the content of the material indicated by the material ID. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the material data. As shown in FIG. 12, in the material data in this embodiment, for each material, a material ID, a name, properties, and drawing setting information set for the material are associated with each other.

[0088] The name included in the material data is the name set for the material (for example, soil, sand, grass, etc.). During the game, the name of the material of the voxel object may be displayed. In order to perform such a display, the material data includes information on the name of the material.

[0089] The properties included in the material data are the properties set for the material. The properties of the material are the properties that the voxel object to which the material is set has in the game. Note that the specific content and number of types of the properties of the material are arbitrary. For example, at least any one of the following information may be set as the properties of the material. · Hardness · Weight · Slipperiness · Damage setting when the player character comes into contact · Temperature · Whether another object can adhere to the voxel object · Amount of recovery of the player character's physical strength when the player character destroys or acquires the voxel object · Amount of in-game currency that the player character acquires when the player character destroys or acquires the voxel object In other embodiments, information different from the above may be set as the information indicating the properties of the material.

[0090] In this embodiment, the material data includes an ID indicating the property as information for specifying the property of the material (see FIG. 12). Although not shown, the game system 1 stores property information in which the content of the property (for example, the values indicating the above-mentioned weight and slipperiness) is associated with the property ID for each prepared property. By referring to the above property information, the game system 1 can specify the specific content of the property set for the material.

[0091] The rendering settings included in the material data are information indicating settings related to rendering, such as the texture used for rendering the voxel object to which the material is set. In this embodiment, the material data includes, as information on the rendering settings, the ID of the texture used for rendering the voxel object to which the material is set (see FIG. 12). Although not shown, the game system 1 stores texture information in which the texture ID and the texture indicated by the texture ID are associated with each other for each prepared texture. By referring to the above texture information, the game system 1 can specify the specific content of the texture set for the material. In other embodiments, as information on the rendering settings, in addition to the texture information, any information related to the shading settings may be set. For example, the reflectivity, information related to the normal, etc. may be set.

[0092] Also, the material data may include other data other than the data shown in FIG. 12. For example, the material data may include data related to sound settings. For example, the data related to sound settings may be data that defines the footstep sound output when the player character walks on the voxel object based on the voxel.

[0093] Note that the material data may be data in any format that can identify the properties of the material and / or rendering settings. For example, in other embodiments, the material data may have a data structure that includes data directly indicating the properties of the material and / or rendering settings, instead of a data structure that includes a material ID and a texture ID.

[0094] [2-2. Update of Voxel Data] During the game, the voxel object is deformed by updating the above-described voxel data. In this embodiment, when a game event (hereinafter referred to as an "update event") for updating the voxel object occurs, the game system 1 updates the voxel data. The specific content of the update event is arbitrary. The update event may be, for example, that a character appearing in the game performs an action to deform the voxel object (for example, the player character punches the voxel object), or an event that deforms the voxel object occurs (for example, an object thrown by a character contacts the voxel object, or a bomb explodes).

[0095] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the game space when an update event occurs. The situation shown in FIG. 13 is a situation where the player character 201 performs a punch action on the terrain object 202, which is a voxel object. Although details will be described later, in the example shown in FIG. 13, the voxel data is updated so that the terrain object 202 around the position where the punch action by the player character 201 hits is deleted. As a result, the state where the terrain object 202 is destroyed by the punch action of the player character 201 is expressed.

[0096] In this embodiment, when an update event occurs, the game system 1 sets an update range (update range 203 shown in FIG. 13) for updating the voxel object in the game space. The position, shape, and size of the update range are arbitrary. The position of the update range may be determined based on, for example, the position where the object related to the generated update event (for example, the player character who performed a punch) contacts the voxel object. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the position of the update range 203 may be determined based on the position where the punch by the player character 201 hits, and for example, the hit position or the position a predetermined distance ahead from the hit position may be the center position of the update range 203. The shape and size of the update range may be determined in advance to be a shape corresponding to the type of the update event. For example, when an update event due to the punch of the player character 201 occurs, the shape and size of the update range may be determined as a sphere with a predetermined size as shown in FIG. 13. Also, the size of the update range may be determined according to a value indicating the degree of influence of the generated update event (for example, the strength of the punch or the size of the explosion).

[0097] The game system 1 changes the density for the voxels corresponding to the set update range. Note that the voxels corresponding to the update range are, for example, the voxels within the update range or the voxels overlapping with the update range. As a result of the change in density, the mesh of the voxel object is changed by the process described later, so that the shape of the voxel object (the visible shape and the shape used for collision determination) is changed. Note that in other embodiments, in addition to changing the density for the voxels included in the update range, the game system 1 may change the material (that is, the first material, the second material, and the material mixing ratio) in the voxels or change the state in the voxels.

[0098] In this embodiment, the game system 1 determines whether a voxel is included in the update range using an SDF (Signed Distance Field). The game system 1 sets an SDF indicating the update range set in the game space, and makes the above determination based on the value of the SDF. The SDF represents, with a sign, the distance from a defined shape for any position. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the update range. In the example shown in FIG. 14, a spherical update range is set in the game space. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 14, among the positions in the game space, the SDF value becomes negative for the positions inside the shape represented by the SDF, and the SDF value becomes positive for the positions outside the shape represented by the SDF. In this example, it is possible to determine whether it is included in the update range based on whether the value of the SDF is positive or negative. Also, by using the value of the signed distance, not only simple inside / outside determination but also processing such as correction and interpolation can be performed.

[0099] In the above, an example in which a change such that the voxel object within the update range is deformed as if it were erased is added to the voxel object has been described, but the changes added to the voxel object using the update range are not limited to this. For example, a change in which a voxel object is newly added within the update range (that is, the volume occupied by the area within the voxel object increases by the amount of the update range) may be added to the voxel object. Also, a change may be added to the voxel object such that only the material of the voxels within the update range changes without changing the density of the voxels. Further, a change combining a change in the density of the voxels and a change in the material may be added.

[0100] [2-3. Calculation of vertices] When the density of the voxels is updated as described above, the game system 1 sets vertices based on the updated voxel data. The above vertices can be the vertices of the mesh of the voxel object. Although details will be described later, in this embodiment, the above vertices are simplified, and the simplified vertices become the vertices of the mesh of the voxel object.

[0101] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a method for setting vertices. In FIGS. 15 to 24 described below, for the purpose of making the drawings easier to view and the explanations easier to understand, voxels, vertices, meshes, etc. are represented two-dimensionally, but in reality, vertices and meshes are set in a three-dimensional space based on voxels in the three-dimensional space. In this embodiment, the game system 1 uses a method of setting vertices at coordinates based on the positions and densities of a plurality of surrounding voxels for a portion where a voxel having a set density indicating its existence (i.e., a density equal to or greater than a reference value described later) and a voxel having a set density indicating its non-existence (i.e., a density less than the reference value described later) are adjacent. The details of this method will be described below.

[0102] As described above, in this embodiment, the density set for each voxel is set within the range of 0 to 255. A voxel with a density of 0 is completely in the air, and a voxel with a density of 255 represents a state where the interior is completely filled. Densities between 0 and 255 are treated interpolatively and used for vertex determination. And in this embodiment, voxels with a density greater than or equal to a reference value are virtually treated as being inside the object, and voxels with a density less than the reference value are treated as being outside the object. It can also be said that voxels with a density greater than or equal to the reference value are virtually treated as voxels indicating their existence, and voxels with a density less than the reference value are virtually treated as voxels indicating their non-existence. It is not necessary to define only voxels with a density of 0 as being outside the object (i.e., set the reference value = 1), and the reference value can be, for example, 128. In the example shown in FIG. 15, assume that the density is 0 in voxel 211 and other outer voxels, the density of voxel 212 is 100 which is less than the reference value, and the densities of voxels 213 and 214 are 150 and 210 which are greater than or equal to the reference value. In this embodiment, the game system 1 generates vertices between voxels with a density greater than or equal to the reference value and voxels with a density less than the reference value. Specifically, for each region spanning eight (four in the drawing) adjacent voxels (the region surrounded by the dotted line in the drawing), a determination is made as to whether to generate a vertex. That is, vertices are generated in regions spanning both voxels with a density greater than or equal to the reference value and voxels with a density less than the reference value. The coordinates of the vertices are determined by interpolating based on the density difference by comparing the densities of adjacent voxels for each of the X, Y, and Z axes. Additionally, by setting normal information that defines the position and orientation of the straight line connecting the vertices, the coordinates of the vertices can be further calculated based on the normal information. The normal information may be pre-held for at least some of the voxels, or if not held, the normal information may also be calculated based on the densities of adjacent voxels. In FIG. 15, since the density of voxel 212 is less than the reference value, voxel 212 is treated as being outside the object in the determination of the presence or absence of vertices, but the density value of voxel 212 itself is used for the calculation of the coordinates of the generated vertices.If the reference value is set to a value lower than the density of voxel 212, the result is that more vertices will be added to the upper right and upper left sides of voxel 212 in Fig. 15.

[0103] By setting the vertices as described above, when generating a mesh that connects each of the set vertices (or each vertex after performing the simplification process described later on each of the set vertices), it is possible to generate a shape having a volume that reflects the density for each voxel to a certain extent. However, depending on the relationship with adjacent voxels, it is possible that a voxel with a density of 0 may include a region within a part of the object, or a voxel with a density of 255 may include a region outside a part of the object. Also, in this embodiment, since voxels below the reference value are treated as outside the object, the volume becomes smaller by the amount that the number of vertices is reduced compared to the case of treating them as inside the object. Thus, it is not necessary to calculate the polygon mesh so as to have a volume that exactly corresponds to the density value.

[0104] [2-4. Determination of Vertex Material] The game system 1 determines the material for each of the vertices set as described above. The material of a vertex is determined based on the materials of the voxels around the vertex. The voxels around the vertex are, for example, the voxels used in the determination of whether to generate the vertex (that is, the voxels that overlap with the "region spanning voxels" described above). Note that in other embodiments, the voxels used for determining the material of the vertex do not have to be the same as the voxels used for the determination of the generation of the vertex, and they may be different.

[0105] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a method for determining the material of a vertex. In the example shown in FIG. 16, it is assumed that a vertex 219 is set for four voxels 215 to 218, and the four voxels 215 to 218 are the above-mentioned "voxels around the vertex". In an actual three-dimensional space, the number of voxels around the vertex is eight. Also, in the example shown in FIG. 16, for voxel 215, the density is set to 255, the first material is "sand", and the material mixing ratio is 0 (that is, the first material: the second material = 1:0, or the second material may not be set). For voxel 216, the density is set to 0 (the first and second materials may not be set). For voxel 217, the density is set to 204, the first material is "sand", the second material is "grass", and the material mixing ratio is 0.3 (that is, the first material: the second material = 0.7:0.3). For voxel 218, the density is set to 153, the first material is "soil", the second material is "grass", and the material mixing ratio is 0.4 (that is, the first material: the second material = 0.6:0.4). Also, it is assumed that the coordinates indicating the position of vertex 219 are (X, Y) = (0.8, 0.6). Note that the coordinate system of these coordinates has the left-right direction in FIG. 16 as the X coordinate, the up-down direction as the Y coordinate, and the center position of the lower-left voxel 217 (the position of the white circle shown in FIG. 13) among the center positions of voxels 215 to 218 as (0, 0).

[0106] When determining the material of the vertex, the game system 1 calculates an evaluation value for each material in the surrounding voxels based on the density of the material and the weight value based on the distance from the voxel to the vertex. First, the weight value is calculated for each voxel, and is calculated so that it becomes larger as the distance from the center position of the voxel to the vertex is closer. In the present embodiment, when the center position of the voxel is (x1, y1) and the coordinates of the vertex are (x2, y2), the weight value for a certain voxel is calculated according to the following formula (1). (Weight value) = |(1 - x1) - x2|·|(1 - y1) - y2|…(1) In the example shown in FIG. 16, the weight values of each of the voxels 215 to 218 calculated according to the above formula (1) are as follows. (Weight value of voxel 215)=|(1 - 0) - 0.8|·|(1 - 1) - 0.6| = 0.12 (Weight value of voxel 216)=|(1 - 1) - 0.8|·|(1 - 1) - 0.6| = 0.48 (Weight value of voxel 217)=|(1 - 0) - 0.8|·|(1 - 0) - 0.6| = 0.08 (Weight value of voxel 218)=|(1 - 1) - 0.8|·|(1 - 0) - 0.6| = 0.32

[0107] Also, the game system 1 calculates the density of the material for each voxel. Here, the density of the material is a value obtained by multiplying the ratio occupied by the material among the materials set in the voxel by the density of the voxel. In the present embodiment, as the density of the voxel, a value obtained by normalizing the above values from 0 to 255 to values from 0 to 1 is used. In the example shown in FIG. 16, for voxel 215, since the only material set is sand, the above ratio regarding the sand material is 1, and the density of the voxel is 1, so the density of the sand material is 1. For voxel 216, since the density is 0 and no material is set, the density of the material is not calculated. Or, if some material is set, the density of the material is 0. For voxel 217, the above ratios of the set sand material and grass material are 0.7 and 0.3 respectively, and the density of the voxel is 204 / 255 = 0.8, so the density of the sand material is 0.7·0.8 = 0.56, and the density of the grass material is 0.3·0.8 = 0.24. For voxel 218, the above ratios of the set soil material and grass material are 0.6 and 0.4 respectively, and the density of the voxel is 153 / 255 = 0.6, so the density of the soil material is 0.6·0.6 = 0.36, and the density of the soil material is 0.4·0.6 = 0.24.

[0108] Then, the game system 1 calculates the above evaluation value for each material based on the above weight value and the density of the material. In the present embodiment, the evaluation value of the material is a value obtained by attaching a weight according to the weight value for each voxel to the density of the material calculated for each voxel and summing up for each surrounding voxel. In the example shown in FIG. 16, for the evaluation value of the sand material, the density of the material for voxel 215 is 1 and the weight value is 0.12, and the density of the material for voxel 217 is 0.56 and the weight value is 0.08. Therefore, 1·0.12 + 0.56·0.08 = 0.1648. Also, for the evaluation value of the grass material, the density of the material for voxel 217 is 0.24 and the weight value is 0.08, and the density of the material for voxel 218 is 0.24 and the weight value is 0.32. Therefore, 0.24·0.08 + 0.24·0.32 = 0.096. Also, for the evaluation value of the soil material, the density of the material for voxel 218 is 0.36 and the weight value is 0.32. Therefore, 0.36·0.32 = 0.1152.

[0109] The game system 1 determines the vertex materials based on the evaluation values for each material. Specifically, a predetermined number of materials are determined as the vertex materials in descending order of the evaluation values. In this embodiment, two materials with large evaluation values are determined as the vertex materials. In the example shown in FIG. 16, since the evaluation values of the materials of sand, grass, and soil are 0.1648, 0.096, and 0.1152 respectively, the vertex materials are determined as the sand material and the soil material. Also, the game system 1 calculates the ratio of the two determined materials based on the above evaluation values. In this embodiment, the ratio of the two materials may be represented as a second material ratio, which is the ratio of the second material to the whole, similar to the above material mixing ratio. In the example shown in FIG. 16, for example, when the first material is the soil material and the second material is set as the sand material, the second material ratio is shown as 0.1648 / (0.1648 + 0.1152) ≈ 0.59. Note that in other embodiments, as the value representing the ratio of the two materials, a value indicating the ratio of the first material may be used. Also, respective values indicating the ratio of each material may be used.

[0110] In this embodiment, the game system 1 generates and stores vertex data indicating the position of the vertex, the material IDs of the first and second materials set for the vertex, and the ratio of the materials. However, the method of managing the materials set for the vertex is arbitrary. In other embodiments, the vertex data may be a data structure including data directly indicating the contents of the first and second materials.

[0111] As described above, in this embodiment, for each vertex, the game system 1 calculates, based on the voxel data of a plurality of surrounding voxels, a priority parameter (for example, an evaluation value) for each material ID included in the voxel data of the surrounding voxels. Then, based on the priority parameter, the material IDs up to a predetermined number (here, two) with high priority are selected and determined as the material ID of the vertex. Note that the specific parameter used as the priority parameter is not limited to the above evaluation value. For example, in other embodiments, an evaluation value calculated using the density of the material instead of the above weight value may be used as the priority parameter.

[0112] In this embodiment, an evaluation value, which is an example of the priority parameter, is calculated based on the density of a plurality of voxels around the vertex so that the priority of the material set in the voxel with high density becomes high (that is, the evaluation value of the material becomes large and the material is more likely to be selected). According to this, the material of the vertex can be determined by reflecting the magnitude of the density set in the voxel.

[0113] Also, in this embodiment, an evaluation value, which is an example of the priority parameter, is calculated based on the distance from the reference position (specifically, the center position) of a plurality of voxels around the vertex to the vertex so that the priority of the material set in the voxel closer to the vertex becomes high. According to this, the material of the vertex can be determined by reflecting the distance between the voxel and the vertex.

[0114] Also, in this embodiment, it can be said that an evaluation value, which is an example of the priority parameter, is calculated based on the material mixing ratio of a plurality of voxels around the vertex so that the priority of the material with a high material mixing ratio becomes high. According to this, when a plurality of materials are set in one voxel, the material of the vertex can be determined by reflecting the ratio of each material.

[0115] [2-5. Simplification of Vertex] In this embodiment, the game system 1 simplifies each vertex calculated as described above. That is, the game system 1 reduces the number of vertices by grouping some of the vertices calculated as described above and replacing them with a single vertex. Although details will be described later, the coordinates (i.e., positions) and materials of the vertices to be replaced are set based on a plurality of vertices before replacement. By such simplification, the number of vertices and the number of polygons constituting the mesh of the voxel object can be reduced, and the amount of memory used for processing and the processing load can be reduced.

[0116] In this embodiment, the game system 1 simplifies by expressing each vertex using an SVO (Sparse Voxel Octree). FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of vertex simplification. In FIG. 17, one square indicated by a solid line shown in (a) shown in FIG. 17 represents one vertex division region. Here, the vertex division region is a square region having the center position of the voxel as a vertex (in the actual three-dimensional space, the vertex division region is a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped), and is a region having the dotted lines in FIGS. 15 and 16 described above as sides. Further, in FIG. 17, the vertex division region in which the character "v" is shown inside indicates the vertex division region in which a vertex is set.

[0117] In this embodiment, the game system 1 determines whether or not it is possible to simplify the vertices within a predetermined number (four in FIG. 17, eight in the actual three-dimensional space) of mutually adjacent vertex division regions. When it is determined that simplification is possible, the vertices within the predetermined number of vertex division regions are simplified.

[0118] As shown in Fig. 17, (a) represents the state before simplification. In the example shown in Fig. 17, it is assumed that the vertex division regions within the range surrounded by the dotted line are determined to be simplifiable. At this time, the game system 1 simplifies the vertices within each of the above-mentioned predetermined number of vertex division regions that are determined to be simplifiable so that they are replaced by one vertex (see (b) shown in Fig. 17). As a result, the vertices within the above-mentioned predetermined number of vertex division regions are simplified to one vertex.

[0119] In this embodiment, the game system 1 performs simplification in multiple stages. The number of stages is arbitrary, but in Fig. 17, up to the second stage will be illustrated and described. (b) shown in Fig. 17 shows the state after the first-stage simplification, and (c) shown in Fig. 17 shows the state after the second-stage simplification. In the second-stage simplification, it is determined whether simplification is possible for the vertices generated by the first-stage simplification. In the example shown in Fig. 17, as a result of determining that the vertex division regions within the range surrounded by the dotted line in (b) shown in Fig. 17 are simplifiable, the vertices of the vertex division regions are simplified, resulting in the state shown in (c) shown in Fig. 17. Note that the determination conditions for whether the first-stage simplification is possible and the determination conditions for whether the second-stage simplification is possible may be the same or different.

[0120] Regarding the determination of whether simplification is possible, the specific method is arbitrary. In this embodiment, as the conditions for the above determination, conditions related to the shape of the voxel object and conditions related to the material are used. In this embodiment, when both the conditions related to the shape of the voxel object and the conditions related to the material are satisfied, it is determined that simplification is possible, and when at least one of the conditions related to the shape of the voxel object and the conditions related to the material is not satisfied, it is determined that simplification is impossible.

[0121] The condition regarding the shape means, for example, that the shape formed by each vertex before simplification and the shape formed by each vertex after simplification are not greatly changed. For example, whether the shape formed by each vertex is not greatly changed before and after simplification can also be determined by calculating an index indicating the error between the mesh before simplification and the mesh after simplification and determining whether the index is less than or equal to a predetermined allowable value. Also, for example, when the shape formed by each vertex before simplification is a hollow shape, while the shape formed by each vertex after simplification is not a hollow shape (that is, information indicating hollowness is lost due to simplification), it is also determined that the condition regarding the shape is not satisfied. Whether the above situation occurs can be determined, for example, based on the density of each voxel corresponding to the vertex division region to be determined. Also, for example, when the shape formed by each vertex before simplification is a shape that can only be represented by two or more vertices and cannot be represented by a single vertex, it is also determined that the condition regarding the shape is not satisfied. Note that as the condition regarding the shape of the voxel object, the same condition as the conventional method using SVO may be used.

[0122] Also, as a condition regarding the material, in the present embodiment, a condition regarding the number of types of materials set for each vertex within the above-mentioned predetermined number of vertex division regions to be simplified is used. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the condition regarding the material. (a) shown in FIG. 18 shows a case where the materials of vertices 221 to 224 are (grass), (grass), (grass and soil), and (grass and soil) respectively, and (b) shown in FIG. 18 shows a case where the materials of vertices 221 to 224 are (grass and sand), (grass), (grass and soil), and (grass and soil) respectively. In the present embodiment, the condition regarding the material is that the total number of types of materials set for each of the above-mentioned vertices to be simplified is equal to or less than a predetermined number. For example, the condition regarding the material is that it is equal to or less than the number of materials that can be set for one vertex. In the present embodiment, the above-mentioned predetermined number is 2. For example, in the case of (a) shown in FIG. 18, the total number of types of materials set for each of the vertices 221 to 224 to be simplified is two types, grass and soil, so the condition regarding the material is satisfied. At this time, on the condition that the above-mentioned condition regarding the shape of the object is satisfied, each of the vertices 221 to 224 is determined to be simplifiable. On the other hand, in the case of (b) shown in FIG. 18, the total number of types of materials set for each of the vertices 221 to 224 to be simplified is three types, grass, soil, and sand, so the condition regarding the material is not satisfied. At this time, regardless of whether the above-mentioned condition regarding the shape of the object is satisfied, each of the vertices 221 to 224 is determined to be non-simplifiable.

[0123] In the game system 1, even if materials are strictly classified into different types, a plurality of types of materials with the same set properties but different appearances may be prepared. For some of such a plurality of types of materials, the determination regarding the conditions for the materials may be made by regarding them as the same type. For example, regarding soil materials, there may be cases where a plurality of types of soil materials with the same properties but similar appearances (e.g., texture color and pattern) are prepared. In such a case, the game system 1 may make the determination regarding the conditions for the materials by regarding the plurality of types of soil materials as the same type.

[0124] Here, in the present embodiment, regarding vertices, similar to voxels, up to two types of materials can be set. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, when the total number of types of materials set for each vertex to be simplified is three or more, simplification is not performed. That is, when the total number of types of materials exceeds the number of materials that can be set for one vertex, simplification is not performed. Therefore, even if the number of vertices is reduced by simplification, the information on the materials set for the vertices will not be lost due to simplification, and the information on the materials can be maintained.

[0125] In this embodiment, the material of the simplified vertex is determined based on the material of each vertex before simplification. Specifically, the game system 1 sets one or two types of materials set for the vertices before simplification as the first material and the second material for the vertices after simplification. Thereby, the information of the material can be maintained. Note that the ratio of the materials after simplification is determined based on the ratio of the materials of each vertex before simplification. In this embodiment, the ratio of the materials after simplification is calculated in the same manner as the method of calculating the ratio of the materials of each vertex using the above-described evaluation value. That is, the game system 1 calculates a weight value based on the distance between the vertex after simplification and the vertex before simplification, and based on the weight value and the density of the material at the vertex before simplification (note that the evaluation value of the material described in [2-4. Determination of Vertex Material] above can be used as the density of the material here), calculates an evaluation value for each material. Then, the ratio of the materials is calculated based on the calculated evaluation value of each material.

[0126] [2-6. Mesh Generation] In this embodiment, based on each vertex simplified as described above, a mesh of the voxel object is generated. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a mesh generated based on each vertex. Note that the square shown in FIG. 19 indicates the above-described vertex division region, or a vertex division region in which a plurality of vertex division regions are combined into one by simplification. As shown in FIG. 19, the game system 1 generates a mesh composed of polygons having sides that are straight lines connecting adjacent vertices in the vertex division region. Each polygon constituting the mesh is a triangle or a quadrilateral.

[0127] In this embodiment, the game system 1 generates two types of meshes: a display mesh and a determination mesh. The display mesh is a mesh used for displaying voxel objects. The determination mesh is a mesh used for collision determination of voxel objects. Although details will be described later, by using the above two types of meshes, the game system 1 can perform processing using meshes suitable for each of the display and collision determination of voxel objects.

[0128] In this embodiment, the game system 1 generates the display mesh and the determination mesh based on the data of the above-mentioned SVO (that is, based on each simplified vertex). According to this, by sharing the vertex data used for generating the two types of meshes, the processing efficiency can be improved. In other embodiments, the game system 1 may not perform vertex simplification and may generate the display mesh and / or the determination mesh based on non-simplified vertices.

[0129] In this embodiment, the game system 1 generates the determination mesh to have a simpler shape than the display mesh. Specifically, the game system 1 reduces the number of vertices of the determination mesh compared to the number of vertices of the display mesh. Here, in this embodiment, the SVO data is data that holds the data of the vertices before simplification and the data of the simplified vertices in an octree structure, and also includes the data used for determining whether simplification is possible. This data includes, for example, the data of vertices calculated as candidates for the vertices after simplification (referred to as temporary vertices), and the data of the above-mentioned index indicating the error between the vertices before simplification and the temporary vertices. For example, the game system 1 may use, for the generation of the determination mesh, those vertices among the temporary vertices for which the above index is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (this threshold is set to be larger than the above allowable value). According to this, the number of vertices of the determination mesh can be made less than the number of vertices of the display mesh. By making the number of vertices of the determination mesh less than the number of vertices of the display mesh, the processing load due to collision determination can be reduced. Also, since the number of vertices of the display mesh is not excessively reduced, the appearance of the voxel object can be expressed in detail.

[0130] Note that in other embodiments, the display mesh and the determination mesh may be generated based on the same data or may be generated based on different data. Also, the display mesh and the determination mesh may have the same shape (however, even in this case, the materials set for both may be different). Also, the number of vertices of the determination mesh may be the same as the number of vertices of the display mesh, or may be more than the number of vertices of the display mesh.

[0131] [2-6-1. Determination of the Material of the Display Mesh] Next, an example of a method for determining the material and appearance of the display mesh will be described. In the present embodiment, the game system 1 determines the material for each polygon constituting the display mesh. Although details will be described later, in the present embodiment, the polygon corresponding to the above polygon is drawn using up to two textures corresponding to up to two materials. Therefore, the game system 1 ensures that for each polygon constituting the mesh, ultimately, the number of materials set for one polygon is two or less. In other embodiments, three or more materials may be set. For example, in embodiments where there are three or more materials for voxels and vertices respectively, the same number of materials may be set for the polygon.

[0132] In the present embodiment, a quadrilateral may be formed as the polygon constituting the display mesh (see FIG. 19). When determining the material of the display mesh, the game system 1 first divides the quadrilateral constituting the display mesh into two triangles under certain conditions. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 20, the process of dividing the quadrilateral into two triangles will be described.

[0133] FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example in which a quadrilateral constituting a mesh is divided into two triangles. (a) shown in FIG. 20 shows the quadrilateral before division formed by vertices 231 to 234 which are part of the vertices of the mesh, and (b) shown in FIG. 20 shows the two triangles obtained by dividing the quadrilateral. In the example shown in FIG. 20, assume that the materials of each of the vertices 231 to 234 are grass, soil, sand, grass, and grass respectively.

[0134] In this embodiment, when there are three or more types of materials set at each vertex of a quadrilateral in total, the game system 1 determines whether the division condition is satisfied. In this embodiment, the division condition is that by dividing the quadrilateral into two triangles, the total number of types of materials set at each vertex of the triangles can be made two or less. When the division condition is satisfied, the game system 1 divides the quadrilateral into two triangles in which the total number of types of materials set at each vertex is two or less. In the example shown in FIG. 20, the materials set at each vertex 231 to 234 forming the quadrilateral are three types: grass, soil, and sand. Also, when the above quadrilateral is divided into a triangle formed by vertices 231, 232, 234 and a triangle formed by vertices 231, 233, 234, the materials set at each vertex of the former triangle are two types: sand and grass, and the materials set at each vertex of the latter triangle are two types: grass and soil (see (b) shown in FIG. 20). Therefore, for the above quadrilateral, the division condition is satisfied, so the game system 1 divides the quadrilateral into two triangles.

[0135] Note that since there are two ways to divide a quadrilateral into two triangles, when the division condition is satisfied for the triangles divided by at least one of the two ways, the game system 1 performs the above division by the method that satisfies the division condition. On the other hand, when the division condition is not satisfied for the triangles divided by either of the two ways, the division is performed by either method.

[0136] By performing the division as described above, the game system 1 can generate two triangles in which the materials set at each vertex are two or less so as to minimize the omission of information on three or more types of materials set at each vertex of the quadrilateral. Here, as described above, each polygon constituting the mesh is drawn using up to two types of textures. Therefore, by performing the above division, the game system 1 can draw the polygon using two types of textures so as to minimize the omission of the information on the materials set at each vertex.

[0137] In this embodiment, the game system 1 sets a polygon corresponding to the polygon after the above division. That is, the vertices of the polygon after the above division become the vertices of the polygon of the display mesh.

[0138] In this embodiment, for each polygon constituting the display mesh, when there are three or more types of materials set for each vertex of one polygon in total, the game system 1 determines the material of the polygon by selecting two types of materials. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a method for determining the material of a polygon constituting the display mesh. In the example shown in FIG. 21, for vertex 241 of the triangular polygon constituting the display mesh, let the first material be "grass", the second material be "soil", and the material ratio of the first material: the second material be 0.8:0.2. Also, for vertex 242 of the above polygon, let the first material be "grass", the second material be "sand", and the material ratio of the first material: the second material be 0.5:0.5. Also, for vertex 243 of the above polygon, let the first material be "sand", the second material be "soil", and the material ratio of the first material: the second material be 0.7:0.3.

[0139] When there are three or more types of materials set for each vertex of a polygon in total, the game system 1 calculates a determination value for each material. The determination value is calculated as the total value of the ratios for each vertex where the material is set. Then, the game system 1 selects two materials in order from the ones with larger determination values as the materials of the polygon. In the example shown in FIG. 21, the determination value of the grass material is 0.8 + 0.5 = 1.3, the determination value of the sand material is 0.5 + 0.7 = 1.2, and the determination value of the soil material is 0.2 + 0.3 = 0.5. Therefore, as the materials of the polygon shown in FIG. 21, the materials of grass and sand are selected (see (a) shown in FIG. 21).

[0140] The specific method of selecting the material of the polygon of the display mesh is arbitrary. In other embodiments, the material of the polygon of the display mesh may be selected by any method based on the information set at the vertices of the polygon. For example, for the material of the polygon of the display mesh, the material with the largest ratio at one vertex is specified for each vertex, and the material with the largest number of specifications for each vertex may be selected as the material of the polygon.

[0141] In the present embodiment, the material of the polygon selected as described above is indicated by the material set at each vertex of the polygon. That is, when the material of the polygon is selected, the game system 1 changes the material set at each vertex of the polygon (that is, the material ID included in the vertex data) to the selected material. In the example shown in FIG. 21, for vertices 241 and 243, before the selection of the material of the polygon, the materials of grass and soil, and sand and soil are set respectively (see (a) shown in FIG. 21). When the materials of grass and sand are selected as the material of the polygon as described above, the materials set at each of the vertices 241 and 243 are changed to grass and sand (see (b) shown in FIG. 21). For vertex 242, since the material set before the selection is the same as the selected material of the polygon, the material is not changed. As described above, when two types of materials are selected as the material of the polygon, the information of the materials of the third and subsequent types set at each vertex of the polygon will be deleted.

[0142] In addition, the game system 1 changes the ratio of the materials set for the vertices according to the change of the materials set for the vertices. For example, for vertex 241, the content changes from the first material being grass and the second material being soil to the first material being grass and the second material being sand. Here, since the ratio of the sand material is 0, the material ratio is the first material: the second material = 1:0. In this way, the above change formally changes the material of each vertex in order to represent the material of the polygon by the materials of each vertex of the polygon.

[0143] According to the above, since the materials set for each vertex of one polygon are only the materials corresponding to the textures used for the drawing described later, it is possible to facilitate the execution of the drawing process using the textures.

[0144] Note that due to the above change, it may be the case that all the materials for a certain vertex are changed (that is, none of the materials before the change match the materials after the change). Such a case is, for example, when the material set for the vertex before the change is soil and the materials selected as the material of the polygon are grass and sand. In such a case, the ratio of the materials at the vertex may be set based on the ratio of the materials at the other vertices of the polygon. For example, in the above example, if the first material set for one of the other vertices of the triangular polygon is grass and the material ratio is grass: sand = 1:0, and the material set for another vertex is sand and the material ratio is sand: grass = 1:0, the material ratio at the vertex may be set to grass: sand = 0.5:0.5. In addition, the game system 1 may determine the ratio of the materials at the vertex in consideration of the distance between the vertex and the other vertices (for example, based on a weight value that increases as the distance gets closer).

[0145] As described above, in this embodiment, for each polygon, the game system 1 selects up to a predetermined number (here, 2) of the material IDs set for the vertices included in the polygon (that is, the material IDs set for the vertices of the polygon corresponding to the polygon), and determines them as the material ID of the polygon. According to this, the game system 1 can perform the drawing process while suppressing the number of textures used while reflecting the material set for the vertices in the appearance of the polygon.

[0146] Note that in this embodiment, for all the materials of the vertices constituting the polygon, when the number of the materials is less than or equal to the predetermined number, the game system 1 determines the material as the material of the polygon, and when the material exceeds the predetermined number, based on the priority parameter of each vertex (specifically, based on the determination value calculated based on the above-described evaluation value), it selects a predetermined number of materials with high priority and determines them as the material of the polygon. Thus, even when a total of more than a predetermined number of materials are set for each vertex, the material of the polygon can be set to a predetermined number or less of materials considering the priority.

[0147] As described above, in this embodiment, the first and second materials set for each vertex of one polygon are changed to be two types of materials set for the polygon. Here, when such a change is made, there may be a discrepancy in the first and second materials set for the vertices shared by two adjacent polygons.

[0148] FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of materials set at each vertex of two adjacent polygons. FIG. 22 shows a state (shown in (b) in FIG. 20) in which two polygons are formed by the respective vertices 231 to 234 shown in FIG. 20. In the example shown in FIG. 22, since the materials of the first polygon formed by vertices 231, 233, and 234 are determined to be grass and sand, the first and second materials of these vertices should be set to grass and sand, respectively. On the other hand, since the materials of the second polygon formed by vertices 231, 232, and 234 are determined to be grass and soil, the first and second materials of these vertices should be set to grass and soil, respectively. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 22, there is a conflict in the materials to be set for vertices 231 and 234 shared by the two polygons.

[0149] Therefore, in the present embodiment, when there is a conflict in the materials to be set for vertices shared by two polygons, the game system 1 adds another vertex at the same position for the relevant vertex. FIG. 22(b) is a diagram showing an example of a state in which vertex 231' is added for vertex 231 and vertex 234' is added for vertex 234. In the example of FIG. 22, for vertices 231 and 234, the game system 1 sets the first and second materials to grass and sand according to the materials of the first polygon. Also, for vertices 231' and 234', the game system 1 sets the first and second materials to grass and soil according to the materials of the second polygon. In this way, by formally setting two vertices as vertices shared by two polygons (that is, generating two vertex data with the same position but different materials), it is possible to suppress the occurrence of conflicts in the materials set for the vertices.

[0150] The game system 1 generates a display mesh composed of polygons whose vertices and materials are determined as described above. Further, the game system 1 performs the drawing of the voxel object by performing the drawing of the polygon based on the material information (that is, the first material and the second material) set for each vertex.

[0151] FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of applying a texture to a polygon. FIG. 23 shows a triangular polygon formed by the vertices 241 to 243 shown in FIG. 21. Note that the materials set for the vertices 241 to 243 are those shown in (b) shown in FIG. 21.

[0152] Regarding the position of the vertex of the polygon, the texture of the first material and the texture of the second material set for the vertex are blended by a mapping that blends at the ratio of the materials set for the vertex (that is, using the ratio as the blend rate). Note that the textures of the first and second materials used for drawing are the textures indicated by the drawing setting information associated with each material ID associated with the vertex data in the above-described material data (see FIG. 12). In the example shown in FIG. 23, regarding the position of vertex 241, since the material ratio of grass : sand is 1:0, drawing is performed using only the grass texture. Also, regarding the position of vertex 243, since the first material is sand and the material ratio of sand : grass is 1:0, drawing is performed using only the sand texture. Further, regarding the position of vertex 242, since the first material is grass, the second material is sand, and the material ratio of grass : sand is 0.5:0.5, drawing is performed by blending the grass texture and the sand texture at a blend rate of 0.5:0.5.

[0153] Also, for positions other than the vertices of the polygon, the game system 1 determines the blend rate by interpolating the blend rates at each vertex. Then, the textures of the two materials set for each vertex are drawn by a mapping that blends them based on the interpolated blend rate. Note that the specific method of interpolation is arbitrary. As an example, the blend rate between vertices is linearly interpolated. In FIG. 23, the positions where the ratio of applying the texture of the grass material is high are shown in white, and the positions where the ratio of applying the texture of the sand material is high are shown in black. In the example shown in FIG. 23, the grass texture is applied at vertex 241. As it approaches vertex 243, the blend ratio of the sand texture increases. At the position of vertex 242, the blend rate of grass and sand is 1:1, and at the position of vertex 243, only the sand texture is applied. In this way, by blending and drawing the two textures set for the polygon (that is, set for each vertex of the polygon) at a blend rate according to the ratio of the materials, the appearance at the boundary between different materials in the display mesh can be made natural. As a result, the appearance of the display mesh with multiple types of materials set can be made natural.

[0154] [2-6-2. Determination of the Material of the Mesh for Judgment] Next, an example of a method for determining the material of the mesh for judgment will be described. Although details will be described later, in this embodiment, collision detection of the voxel object is performed using the mesh for judgment, and processing may be executed according to the material of the voxel object for which collision is detected. Therefore, in this embodiment, the material is also determined for the mesh for judgment.

[0155] In this embodiment, for each polygon constituting the determination mesh, the game system 1 ensures that only one type of material is set for each polygon. Specifically, the game system 1 determines the material set for the polygon of the determination mesh based on the material information (i.e., the first and second materials and the information on the ratio of the materials) set for the vertices of the polygon.

[0156] FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a method for determining the material of a polygon constituting a determination mesh. FIG. 24 shows an example of determining the material for a triangular polygon formed by the respective vertices 241 to 243 shown in FIG. 21. The materials set for the respective vertices 241 to 243 are those shown in (a) shown in FIG. 21.

[0157] When determining the material of a polygon, the game system 1 calculates a determination value for each material set for each vertex of the polygon. In this embodiment, the method for calculating the determination value is the same as the method for calculating the determination value used for selecting the material of the polygon of the display mesh. Note that the specific method for calculating the determination value is arbitrary. In other embodiments, the determination value may be calculated by any method based on the information set for the vertices of the polygon of the determination mesh.

[0158] In the example shown in FIG. 24, the determination value for each material is the same as in the case shown in FIG. 21 described above. The determination value for the grass material is 1.3, the determination value for the sand material is 1.2, and the determination value for the soil material is 0.5. Therefore, the grass material is selected as the material of the polygon shown in FIG. 24.

[0159] As described above, in the present embodiment, for each polygon, the game system 1 selects up to a predetermined number (here, 1) of the material IDs set for the vertices included in the polygon (that is, the material IDs set for the vertices of the polygon corresponding to the polygon) and determines them as the material IDs of the polygon. According to this, the game system 1 can suppress the number of materials set for the determination mesh to a predetermined number or less. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the complication of the processing according to the type of material that is performed according to the result of the collision determination using the determination mesh. Note that the method of determining the material of the polygon of the determination mesh is arbitrary and is not limited to the above. In other embodiments, the material of the polygon of the determination mesh may be determined by any method based on the information set for the vertices of the polygon.

[0160] Further, in the present embodiment, for the polygon of the display mesh, up to two types of materials are set, while for the polygon of the determination mesh, one type of material is set. According to this, for the polygon of the display mesh, two types of textures can be used to achieve a natural appearance, and for the determination mesh, it is possible to suppress the complication of the processing that is performed according to the result of the collision determination using the determination mesh. Note that in other embodiments, the number of types of materials that can be set for the polygons of the display mesh and the determination mesh is arbitrary. The number of materials that can be set for the polygon of the display mesh and the number of materials that can be set for the polygon of the determination mesh may both be plural, may be the same, or may be different.

[0161] In addition, in the present embodiment, the number of material types set for one voxel is up to two, and the number of material types set for one polygon in the display mesh is up to two. According to this, while suppressing the data amount of the voxel data, the information of the material set in the voxel data can be reflected in the material of the display mesh. Further, in the present embodiment, the number of material types set for the vertices set based on the voxel data is also up to two (see FIG. 16). According to this, since two types of materials can be set for the vertices generated during the process of obtaining the display mesh from the voxel data, the information of the material set in the voxel data can be reflected in the display mesh without loss of material information during the process.

[0162] In another embodiment, the game system 1 may set materials differently for vertices used to generate a display mesh and vertices used to generate a determination mesh with respect to vertices set based on voxel data. For example, the game system 1 may set up to two types of materials for vertices used to generate a display mesh as described above, and may set one type of material for vertices used to generate a determination mesh. For the materials of the polygons of the display mesh, two types of materials may be set in the same manner as above, and as the material of the polygon of the determination mesh, one type of material may be set based on the one type of material set for each vertex of the polygon. When setting one type of material for the vertices used to generate the determination mesh, the material for which the above-described determination value calculated for each material is the largest may be set as the material of the vertex. Also by the above, as in this embodiment, the number of types of materials set for one polygon in the display mesh can be up to two, and the number of types of materials set for one polygon in the determination mesh can be one. Therefore, the material information set in the voxel data can be reflected in the display mesh, and it is possible to suppress the complication of the processing performed according to the result of the collision determination using the determination mesh.

[0163] As described above, in this embodiment, a display mesh and a determination mesh can be set for one voxel object. However, depending on the game situation, it is not necessary to set both the display mesh and the determination mesh for one voxel object at the same time (for example, it is not necessary to set both in the processing within one frame). For example, the determination mesh may be generated in a range in the game space where collision determination is performed, and may not be generated in a range where collision determination is not performed. As an example, the game system 1 may generate a determination mesh for voxel objects within a predetermined range centered on the player character, and may not generate a determination mesh for voxel objects outside the predetermined range, but only generate a display mesh.

[0164] Also, for the display mesh, the game system 1 may store data related to the generated mesh in the memory, and in a frame after the mesh is generated, use the data without re-executing the process of generating the mesh except for the updated range. According to this, the processing load for generating the display mesh can be reduced. Also, for the determination mesh, the data related to the generated mesh may not be stored in the memory, and the mesh may be sequentially generated as needed (for example, every time collision determination needs to be performed). According to this, the memory area used for generating the mesh can be saved.

[0165] In the above, the method of generating each mesh (that is, the display mesh and the determination mesh) based on the changed voxel data when the voxel data is changed from the initial state has been described. Note that the above method can also be used when generating each mesh based on the voxel data in the initial state, for example, at the start of the game. However, each mesh based on the voxel data in the initial state does not necessarily need to be generated based on the voxel data in the initial state at the start of the game, and may be prepared in advance before the game starts.

[0166] [2-7. Process of Changing Material] Next, with reference to FIGS. 25 to 31, an example of a process of changing the material of a voxel object will be described. In the following, it is assumed that terrain objects such as the ground and walls are voxel objects, and an example will be described in which a player character performs an action and as a result of collision detection, an effect in the game occurs.

[0167] Note that the above "effect in the game" is any change that occurs in the game, for example, a change caused by "processing that reflects the result of contact between objects". The "effect in the game" may be based on a collision determination between a determination mesh and a determination shape corresponding to a determination target based on game processing (for example, a determination area set for an object such as a player character). The above effect may occur in the object corresponding to the determination mesh or in the object corresponding to the determination target. The content of the "effect in the game" may be associated with the material set for the polygon in which a collision is determined in the collision determination that is the cause of the occurrence of the effect (that is, the content of the effect may be determined by the material).

[0168] FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a game image representing the state in which a player character moves on a terrain object. In the example shown in FIG. 25, the material for the polygon of a part of region 251 of the determination mesh of the terrain object which is the ground is set to "lava". Also, the material for the polygon of region 252 other than region 251 of the determination mesh of the terrain object is set to "rock". And, for the voxels corresponding to region 251, except for the peripheral region 251a of region 251, the first material ID is set to "lava" and the material mixing ratio is set to 0 (that is, the material set in the voxel is one kind of "lava"). Also, for the voxels corresponding to region 251a, the first material ID is set to "lava" and the second material ID is set to "rock", and the material mixing ratio is set to 0.4 (that is, the material set in the voxel is composed of "lava" and "rock" in a ratio of 0.6:0.4).

[0169] In the example shown in FIG. 25, the game system 1 performs a collision determination between the terrain object and the player character 201 using the determination mesh. That is, a collision determination is made as to whether or not the determination mesh of the terrain object and the determination region set for the player character (for example, a region having a predetermined shape set based on the position of the player character) are in contact. And, when a collision between the polygon whose material is lava and the player character 201 is determined, as a process for generating an action in the game, a process for reducing the physical strength of the player character 201 is performed. Also, in the above case, a process for causing the player character 201 to perform a predetermined reaction is performed.

[0170] In this embodiment, as the property information included in the above-described material data, for the lava material, a property of reducing the physical strength of the player character that has come into contact (for example, the property that the temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined value) is assumed to be set. The game system 1 generates an in-game effect (in the above example, reduction of the physical strength of the player character) based on the property information corresponding to the material set for the polygon within the determination mesh for which a collision has been determined by collision detection.

[0171] Also, when a collision between a polygon whose material is rock and the player character 201 is determined, the process of reducing the physical strength of the player character is not executed. Also, based on the collision, the player character 201 is controlled so as not to be able to enter the inside of the polygon. Therefore, the player character can stand on or walk on the above polygon. In this way, in this embodiment, by setting the material for each polygon, the game system 1 can execute different processes according to which part of the voxel object another object has come into contact with. Also, the content of the process to be executed can be made to correspond to the type of material. In this embodiment, since the player character can change the terrain object (for example, deform it or change the material), for example, as will be described later, the lava can be changed to another material or the lava part of the terrain object can be erased. Therefore, the player can avoid the reduction of the physical strength of the player character due to contact with the lava by changing the terrain object.

[0172] Also, the content of the process executed when a collision between a voxel object and another object is determined is arbitrary. For example, when the other object is a moving object such as a player character or an enemy character, the process may be a process of outputting the footsteps of the object or displaying an effect (for example, an effect representing dust or water splashes) at the contact location. At this time, the game system 1 can vary the footsteps or the effects according to the type of material set for the polygon of the contacted part among the voxel objects.

[0173] FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a game image representing a state where the player character 201 throws the ice object 261 into the region 251 in the terrain object. The game system 1 arranges the ice object 261 in the game space. In the present embodiment, the user can cause the player character 201 to perform an action of grabbing, lifting, and throwing the ice object 261 arranged in the game space by a predetermined operation input (referred to as the "throwing action"). As a result, the ice object 261 moves in the game space based on the direction in which the player character 201 performs the throwing action.

[0174] The ice object 261 may or may not be a voxel object. When the ice object 261 is a voxel object, a unique voxel space independent of the voxel space of the voxels corresponding to terrain objects or the like is defined for the ice object 261. In the above unique voxel space, unique voxel data corresponding to the ice object 261 is defined, and a unique display mesh and a unique determination mesh based on the unique voxel data are set. Then, the above unique voxel space can move / rotate within the game space for each defined ice object 261, and the position, direction (posture), etc. of the unique voxel space within the game space are controlled. Note that the voxels defined in the above unique voxel space may have a different size from the voxels constituting the terrain object, or the size of the voxels may be relatively small. In the following description, an example in which the ice object 261 is composed of voxel objects is used.

[0175] The material of the polygon in the ice object 261 is set such that the first material ID is "ice" and the material mixing ratio is 0 (that is, the material set in the voxel is one type of "ice"). And as the property information included in the above-described material data, for the ice material, a property of lowering the temperature of the contacted object (for example, the property that the temperature is below a predetermined value (for example, a sub-zero temperature)) is set. Then, using the method for determining the material of the above-described display mesh and determination mesh, the materials of the unique display mesh and the unique determination mesh of the ice object 261 based on the material of the voxel are determined.

[0176] In this embodiment, in response to the ice object 261 released by the throwing action being determined to have contacted the voxel object as a result of the collision determination, the game system 1 makes a change to the voxel object as an action within the game. FIGS. 27 and 28 are diagrams showing an example of a game image after the terrain object has been changed due to the ice object 261 contacting the area 251 in the terrain object shown in FIG. 26.

[0177] In the example shown in FIG. 27, the area 251 in the terrain object is changed such that the material changes as if it were cooled by the ice object 261 near the position where the ice object 261 first contacted the area 251 in the terrain object. Also, the ice object 261 is deformed such that the area near the contact position melts due to the contact between the ice object 261 and the area 251 in the terrain object. Specifically, the game system 1 generates an update range to include the contacted position, and changes the material of the voxels of the terrain object within the update range, thereby changing a part of the area 251 in the terrain object. Also, the game system 1 reduces the density of the voxels of the ice object 261 within the update range, thereby deforming a part of the ice object 261 into the above-described shape.

[0178] For example, the above update range is set to a shape corresponding to the shape in which the ice object 261 contacts the terrain object, and for the voxels of the terrain object within the update range, the "lava" material in the voxel is set to become the "obsidian" material. Specifically, for the voxels within the above update range corresponding to the region 251 excluding the region 251a in the terrain object, the "lava" with the first material ID is changed to "obsidian", and the material mixing ratio continues to be set to 0 (that is, the material set in the voxel is one type of "obsidian"). Also, for the voxels within the above update range corresponding to the region 251a in the terrain object, the "lava" with the first material ID is changed to "obsidian", the second material ID continues to be set to "rock", and the material mixing ratio continues to be set to 0.4 (that is, the material set in the voxel is composed of "obsidian" and "rock" in a ratio of 0.6:0.4). Then, based on the material of the changed voxels, the materials of the display mesh and the determination mesh of the terrain object are determined. In FIG. 27, the portion of the region 251 changed to the material of one type of "obsidian" is set to the region 262, and the portion of the region 251a changed to the material composed of "obsidian" and "rock" is set to the region 263. According to this, among the region 251 that was the "lava" material in the terrain object, the appearances of the regions 262 and 263 changed to the "obsidian" material can be made different from the appearance of the region 251 of the "lava" material, so it is easier to give the user an impression that the ice object 261 cooled and altered the "lava" material in the region 251 of the terrain object, and it is possible to represent the situation where the lava object is cooled by the ice object and becomes obsidian.

[0179] In addition, for the voxels of the ice object 261 within the above update range, by reducing the density of the voxels in the voxels, the ice object 261 near the contact position is reduced and deformed. Then, based on the changed voxels, the mesh for the unique display and the mesh for the unique determination of the ice object 261 are determined. According to this, since the ice object 261 changes to a reduced shape with the contact position as a reference, it becomes easier to give the user an impression that the ice object 261 is melted by the "lava" material in the area 251 of the terrain object.

[0180] In the example shown in FIG. 28, the ice object 261 is moving on the terrain object while further contacting the region 251 in the terrain object from the position illustrated in FIG. 27. Due to this movement, the region 251 in the terrain object is changed as if the vicinity of the position where further contact occurred was cooled by the ice object 261 and the material changed. Also, the ice object 261 is deformed so that the vicinity of the contact position further melts into a shape as if the ice object 261 further contacts the region 251 in the terrain object. Specifically, in the same manner as the method of changing the material described above, the game system 1 generates a new update range to include the position of further contact, and further changes the material of the voxels of the terrain object in the new update range, thereby further changing a part of the region 251 in the terrain object. Also, the game system 1 further reduces the density of the voxels of the ice object 261 in the new update range in the same manner as the method of reducing the density described above, thereby further deforming a part of the ice object 261 into the above shape. According to this, since the regions 2** and 2** changed from the material of "lava" to the material of "obsidian" in the terrain object can be further expanded, it becomes easier to give the user an impression that the ice object 261 further cools and metamorphoses the "lava" material in the region 251 of the terrain object to expand the metamorphic region. Also, since the ice object 261 changes to a shape further reduced based on the new contact position, it becomes easier to give the user an impression that the ice object 261 is further melted by the "lava" material in the region 251 of the terrain object.

[0181] As described above, in the game examples shown in FIGS. 26 to 28, among the voxel data, for each voxel corresponding to the update range in the virtual space, the "lava" material is changed to the "obsidian" material by changing at least any one of the material IDs to a different material ID. During the game, while updating the voxel material, the game can be advanced by reflecting the update in the appearance and effects. Specifically, when an event occurs in which an ice object collides with a terrain object having the "lava" material in the game, the update range is generated at the collision position based on the collision determination, and the "lava" material ID of the voxels of the terrain object corresponding to the update range having the "lava" material ID is changed to the "obsidian" material ID. Here, since a terrain object having the "lava" material reduces the physical strength of the player character when the player character touches it, the above-described material change changes the material that the player character is damaged by to a material that does not receive such damage.

[0182] In addition, the above ice object has its own voxel data associated with the position of its own voxel space in the game space, its own display mesh, and its own determination mesh. Based on the collision determination between the own determination mesh and the determination mesh of the terrain object, the density in the own voxel data is decreased, thereby reducing its size. Therefore, for each voxel corresponding to the update range in the virtual space among the voxel data, during the game, while updating the voxel density, the game can be advanced by reflecting the update in the appearance and effects.

[0183] Note that the content of the above-described material change may be determined based on the material of the terrain object that has been contacted, based on the material of the ice object that has been contacted, or based on a combination of the material of the terrain object that has been contacted and the material of the ice object that has been contacted. According to this, various changes can be caused to the voxel objects that make up the terrain object or the ice object.

[0184] In addition, the game system 1 may determine whether to perform the above-described change based on the material of the terrain object that has been contacted, based on the material of the ice object that has been contacted, or based on a combination of the material of the terrain object that has been contacted and the material of the ice object that has been contacted. For example, when the ice object 261 contacts a portion of the area 252 of the terrain object whose material is rock, the game system 1 makes a change to reduce the density of the voxels that make up the ice object 261, while in the portion of the area 252 of the terrain object whose material is rock, it may not perform the material change as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28.

[0185] In addition, in the examples shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, the change added to the voxel object in response to the contact of another object (for example, the ice object 261) with the voxel object was to change the material of the voxel object, but the change added to the voxel object is not limited to this. The above change may be a deformation that adds another object that has contacted the voxel object as an additional part, or may be a change that changes the density of the voxels in the voxel object. For example, when the ice object 261 contacts the area 251 of the "molten rock" material in the terrain object, a change may be made to reduce the density of the voxels of the "molten rock" material. Thereby, it is possible to express a situation where the portion of the "molten rock" material in the terrain object is cooled and shrunk by the contacted ice object.

[0186] FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of a game image representing a state where the player character 201 destroys the terrain object 255. FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an example of a cross section of the terrain object 255 destroyed by the player character 201. As shown in FIGS. 29 and 30, in the present embodiment, the user can cause the player character 201 to perform a punch action by a predetermined operation input. Further, the game system 1 destroys and erases a part of the terrain object 255 as an in-game effect caused by the punch action. Specifically, the terrain object 255 is deformed as if a part thereof is erased. When the punch action is performed, after the punch action, fragment objects corresponding to the erased terrain object may be arranged around the position where the punch action is performed. Also, fragment objects corresponding to the destruction of the terrain object 255 may not occur. In FIGS. 28 and 29, for the purpose of making the drawings easy to view and the explanation easy to understand, the generated fragment objects are omitted.

[0187] When the operation input for causing the player character 201 to perform the above punch action is performed by the user, the game system 1 causes the player character 201 to perform an action of punching forward and performs a collision determination. Then, when a collision between the player character 201 performing the punch action and the terrain object 255 is determined, an update range is generated based on the position and orientation of the player character 201.

[0188] FIG. 31 is a diagram showing an example of an update range generated when the player character 201 performs a punch action. The left diagram in FIG. 31 shows the front surface (the surface to be destroyed) of the terrain object 255 as viewed from the side of the player character 201 that destroys the terrain object 255. The right diagram in FIG. 31 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the terrain object 255 shown in the left diagram as viewed from the right side.

[0189] As illustrated in FIG. 31, in the present embodiment, as an example, first to third update ranges are generated. For example, the first update range indicates the destruction range of the terrain object 255 that is destroyed by the punch action of the player character 201. The first update range is generated based on the position, strength, ability of the player character 201 where the terrain object 255 is destroyed, the strength (e.g., material) of the terrain object 255, and the like. For example, the first update range is generated in a predetermined direction (e.g., forward) with respect to the player character 201. In the example of FIG. 31, a bell-shaped first update range with a hemispherical shape at the innermost part is formed centering on the collision position determined by the player character 201 performing a punch action. Note that the shape of the first update range may be other shapes, such as spherical, ellipsoidal, cube-shaped, cylindrical, wedge-shaped, a shape generated by 3D software, or a shape in which a part of these shapes is missing. Further, the position of the first update range may be set centering on the position where the punch action by the player character 201 occurs in the game space (e.g., the position reached by the fist with which the player character 201 punches), or may be set centering on a predetermined distance forward from that position as viewed from the player character 201.

[0190] The game system 1 reduces the density of voxels corresponding to the first update range. As a result, the terrain object 255 is deformed such that the portion corresponding to the first update range is erased. For example, in the present embodiment, based on the SDF of each voxel in the terrain object 255, the density of each voxel is rewritten to control the erasure of each voxel. Specifically, by rewriting at least the density of the voxel whose SDF is a negative distance to a low value, at least a part of the portion corresponding to the first update range in the terrain object 255 is erased. As a first example, by rewriting the density of the voxel whose SDF is a negative distance to the lower limit value, the terrain object 255 included in the first update range is set to a state where it is erased, and by maintaining the density of the voxel whose SDF is a positive distance at the original value, the terrain object 255 outside the first update range is set to a state where it is not erased. As a second example, by rewriting the density of the voxel whose SDF is a negative distance to a lower value as the absolute value of the distance is larger, and rewriting the density of the voxel whose absolute value is larger than a predetermined value to the lower limit value, a state is set where a part of the terrain object 255 included in the first update range is erased, and by maintaining the density of the voxel whose SDF is a positive distance at the original value, the terrain object 255 outside the first update range is set to a state where it is not erased. As a third example, by rewriting the density of the voxel whose SDF is a negative distance to the lower limit value, the terrain object 255 included in the first update range is set to a state where it is erased, and by rewriting the density of the voxel whose SDF is a positive distance to a lower value as the absolute value of the distance is smaller, a state is set where a part of the terrain object 255 outside the first update range is erased.

[0191] Note that instead of unconditionally deforming the voxel object corresponding to the first update range, the game system 1 may increase the amount of damage set to the voxels corresponding to the first update range according to the punch action, and reduce the density in the voxels when the amount of damage exceeds a predetermined value.

[0192] In addition, in the present embodiment, there is a special punch action in which a part of the material of the terrain object destroyed by the above punch action is changed to a specific material. Here, the specific material is set to have a relatively high value obtained during the game in terms of the amount of in-game currency obtained by the player character when the player character destroys or acquires a voxel object as the property of the material. For example, the specific material is a precious metal such as gold, silver, copper, platinum, or a precious stone such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc.

[0193] The game system 1 changes the material of the voxels corresponding to the second update range to the specific material. Specifically, for the voxels corresponding to the second update range, all the material IDs are changed to the ID of the above specific material, or one material ID is changed to the ID of the above specific material and the material mixing ratio of all within the voxel is set to the material mixing ratio where all become the specific material (for example, when the first material ID is changed to the ID of the specific material, the material mixing ratio is 0). As a result, in the terrain object 255, the portion corresponding to the second update range is changed to the specific material (portion 271 in FIGS. 29 and 30).

[0194] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 31, the second update range is generated in a range larger than the above first update range. Specifically, the second update range is generated in a layer shape that surrounds the above first update range with a predetermined thickness. For example, when the above first update range is a bell-shaped range, the second update range is generated in a relatively large bell-shaped range where the SDF is a predetermined positive distance. Thereby, it is possible to realize a special action in which the material near the surface of the terrain object destroyed by the above punch action (specifically, the surface newly exposed to the outside due to the destruction) is changed to the specific material.

[0195] In addition, the game system 1 changes part of the material of the voxels corresponding to the third update range to a specific material. Specifically, among the voxels corresponding to the third update range, the material ID of the material with the lowest ratio among the material IDs of the voxels that do not have the specific material is changed to the ID of the specific material. For example, if the first material ID is set to "rock" and the second material ID is set to "soil", and the material mixing ratio is set to 0.4 (that is, the material set in the voxel is composed of "rock" and "soil" in a ratio of 0.6:0.4), for the voxel, the "soil" with the second material ID having the lowest ratio is changed to the ID of the specific material. Therefore, the above voxel is changed to a material in which the material is composed of "rock" and the "specific material" in a ratio of 0.6:0.4. As a result, the terrain object 255 is changed to a material in which the portion corresponding to the third update range includes the specific material (portion 272 in FIGS. 29 and 30).

[0196] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 31, the third update range is generated in a range larger than the first update range and the second update range. Specifically, the third update range is generated in a layer shape that surrounds the second update range with a predetermined thickness. For example, when the first update range and the second update range are bell-shaped ranges, the third update range is generated in a bell-shaped range where the SDF is a predetermined positive distance greater than the positive distance at which the second update range is set. Thereby, it is possible to realize a special action in which a part of the material in a layer deeper than the layer of the specific material generated on the surface of the terrain object destroyed by the punch action is also changed to the specific material.

[0197] In the above game example, at least a part of the density of the voxels corresponding to the first update range is decreased, the material of the voxels corresponding to the second update range is changed to a specific material, and a part of the material in the voxels corresponding to the third update range is changed to a specific material. As a result, due to the punch action of the player character 201, the surroundings where the terrain object is destroyed can be changed to a specific material, and a part of the material of the surroundings can be changed to a specific material. Therefore, the user can obtain benefits from the specific material.

[0198] In addition, in the present embodiment, the number of material IDs set for one voxel may be three or more (that is, three or more types of materials may be set for one voxel). Also, in the present embodiment, the material of the voxel may be changed based on other events occurring during the game. In this case, at least one update range may be generated, and the material of the voxel corresponding to the update range may be changed. As a first example, when a predetermined event occurs in the game, an update range (for example, the first update range) may be generated, and among the voxels corresponding to the update range, the material with the lowest ratio in the voxels having no specific material may be changed to the specific material. As a second example, when a predetermined event occurs in the game, an update range may be generated, and the materials of all the voxels corresponding to the update range may be changed to the specific material. As a third example, when a predetermined event occurs in the game, an update range may be generated, and among the voxels corresponding to the update range, the material with the highest ratio in the voxels having no specific material may be changed to the specific material. By these means, when overwriting another material on a voxel with two materials or three or more materials set, the voxel including the other material can be changed in an appropriate manner. The above-mentioned predetermined event may occur due to the punch action performed by the player character 201, or may occur due to other actions performed by the player character 201. Also, the above-mentioned predetermined event may occur due to an action performed by another character, or may occur based on a user operation input not accompanied by the operation control of the player character 201, or may occur triggered by a phenomenon in the game not directly related to the actions of the character.

[0199] Also, when a fragment object corresponding to a deleted portion of the terrain object 255 is generated, at least a part of the material of the fragment object may be changed to a specific material. In this case, the fragment object may be generated to have a shape corresponding to the deleted portion of the terrain object 255, or may have a predetermined shape. The fragment object may be a voxel object or may not be a voxel object.

[0200] [3. Specific Examples of Processing in the Game System] Next, with reference to FIGS. 32 and 33, a specific example of information processing in the game system 1 will be described.

[0201] FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an example of various data used for information processing in the game system 1. Each data shown in FIG. 32 is stored in a memory (for example, flash memory 84, DRAM 85, and / or a memory card mounted on the slot 23, etc.) accessible by the main body device 2. As shown in FIG. 32, the game system 1 stores a game program. The game program is for executing the game processing in the present embodiment (for example, the game processing shown in FIG. 33). Note that the game program includes the above-described material data (see FIG. 12). Also, the above memory stores the above-described voxel data (see FIG. 11), update range data, mesh data, object data, etc. (see FIG. 32).

[0202] The update range data is data indicating the above-described update range. In the present embodiment, the update range is represented by the above-described SDF.

[0203] Mesh data includes various data related to the mesh of the voxel object. As shown in FIG. 32, in this embodiment, the mesh data includes SVO data, display mesh data, and determination mesh data. The SVO data is data that holds each vertex calculated from the voxel data in the above-described SVO structure. In this embodiment, the SVO data includes, in addition to the data indicating the position of each vertex, data indicating the material set for each vertex (for example, data indicating the ID of the material). The display mesh data includes various data related to the display mesh. Specifically, the display mesh data includes data indicating each vertex of the display mesh and data indicating the material set for each vertex (for example, data indicating the ID of the material). The determination mesh data includes various data related to the determination mesh. Specifically, the determination mesh data includes data indicating each vertex of the determination mesh and data indicating the material set for each vertex (for example, data indicating the ID of the material).

[0204] Object data includes various data related to objects other than the voxel object (for example, player characters, virtual objects, etc.). The object data is stored for each object that appears in the game space. The object data includes, for example, data indicating the position, speed, and state of the object.

[0205] FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of game processing executed by the game system 1. The execution of the game processing is started, for example, in response to the start of the game according to the player's instruction during the execution of the above game program. The processing loop consisting of a series of processes from steps S1 to S14 is executed once per frame cycle.

[0206] In the present embodiment, the processor 81 of the main body device 2 executes the processing of each step shown in FIG. 33 by executing the game program stored in the game system 1. However, in other embodiments, some of the processing of each step may be executed by a processor (for example, a dedicated circuit or the like) different from the processor 81. Further, when the game system 1 can communicate with another information processing device (for example, a server), some of the processing of each step shown in FIG. 33 may be executed in the other information processing device. Further, the processing of each step shown in FIG. 33 is merely an example, and if the same result can be obtained, the processing order of each step may be changed, or another processing may be executed in addition to (or instead of) the processing of each step.

[0207] Further, the processor 81 executes the processing of each step shown in FIG. 33 using a memory (for example, DRAM 85). That is, the processor 81 stores the information (in other words, data) obtained by each processing step in the memory, and when using the information in subsequent processing steps, reads out and uses the information from the memory.

[0208] In FIG. 33, the processor 81 acquires the operation data indicating the operation input by the player (step S1) and proceeds to the next step. For example, the processor 81 acquires the operation data output from each controller via the controller communication unit 83 and / or each terminal 17 and 21 and the operation data output from the main body device 2 (for example, the touch panel 13).

[0209] Next, the processor 81 designates, as a processing target, any object among the objects in the game space that requires processing and for which the processing has not been completed (including voxel objects defined by the proprietary voxel space), and executes, for the designated object, a process of calculating the speed and a process of reflecting the result of contact between the objects in the previous frame (step S2), and proceeds to the next step. The speed of the object is used to calculate the position of the object in the current frame in the process of step S12 described later. For example, when the designated object is the player character, the speed of the player character is calculated based on the operation data acquired in step S1. Also, when the designated object is an object not operated by the user (for example, an ice object), the speed of the object is calculated based on rules predetermined in the game program. For example, the speed of the ice object is set to 0 when it is placed on the terrain object and not moving, is set to the same speed as the player character when held by the player character, and is set to a speed moving in the direction based on the direction of the player character with a magnitude determined by the above rules when released by the player character's throwing action. Specifically, the speed of the object is calculated based on virtual physical calculations including the interaction between the objects. For example, interactions such as repulsion due to collision between objects, friction due to contact, falling due to virtual gravity, and deceleration due to virtual air resistance are reflected in the speed determination.

[0210] Also, the process of reflecting the result of contact between the objects in the previous frame includes a process of applying the influence of contact to the object when it is determined in the collision determination (step S11 described later) in the previous frame that the objects have come into contact with each other. The above process is, for example, the following process. · When it is determined that the player character has come into contact with the lava terrain object in the previous frame, a process of reducing the physical strength of the player character · When it is determined in the previous frame that the player character has contacted a terrain object by a punch action or the like, a process of generating a fragment object In the process of step S2 above, when the state regarding the object is changed, the processor 81 updates the object data stored in the memory regarding the object so as to indicate the content after the change.

[0211] Next, the processor 81 determines whether an update event for updating the voxel object has occurred due to the object specified in step S2 above (step S3). For example, the determination in step S3 above is made based on the result of a collision determination (step S11 described later) in the previous frame. As an example, when it is determined in the previous frame that the player character has contacted a terrain object by a punch action or the like, it is determined that an update event has occurred in which a part of the terrain object is erased and the material is changed (see FIGS. 29 to 31). As another example, when it is determined in the previous frame that an ice object has contacted a lava terrain object, it is determined that an update event has occurred in which the material of the terrain object is changed and the ice object is shrunk (see FIGS. 26 to 28). Then, when an update event has occurred, the processor 81 proceeds to the process in step S4. On the other hand, when no update event has occurred, the processor 81 proceeds to the process in step S6.

[0212] In step S4, the processor 81 sets an update range for updating the voxel object in the game space and proceeds to the next step. For example, the specific content of the update range (for example, position, shape, and size) is associated with each type of update event in the game program. The update range set in step S4 above is set to be associated with the content related to the type of update event determined to have occurred in step S3 above. In step S4 above, the processor 81 stores data indicating the set update range in the memory as update range data.

[0213] Next, for the voxels corresponding to the update range set in step S4 above, the processor 81 makes changes according to the update event (step S5), and proceeds to step S6. For example, when the processor 81 deletes or deforms the voxel object within the update range as if it were reduced, or deforms it as if a voxel object were added within the update range, the processor 81 updates the voxel data stored in the memory so as to change the density of the voxels corresponding to the update range (see the above [2-2. Update of voxel data]). Also, when the processor 81 changes the material of the voxel object within the update range, the processor 81 updates the voxel data stored in the memory so as to update at least one of the first material ID, the second material ID, and the material mixing ratio of the voxels corresponding to the update range (see the above [2-7. Process for changing material]).

[0214] In step S6, the processor 81 determines whether or not the processing of steps S2 to S5 above has been completed for all objects (including voxel objects defined by the unique voxel space) for which processing is necessary. Then, when the processing of all objects has been completed, the processor 81 proceeds to step S7. On the other hand, when the processing of any object has not been completed, the processor 81 returns to step S2 above and repeats the processing.

[0215] In step S7, the processor 81 updates the vertices of the voxel object in the game space and proceeds to the next step. For example, when the voxel data is updated in the processing of step S5 above, the processor 81 calculates new vertices based on the updated voxel data. Note that the positions of the new vertices are calculated according to the method described in the above [2-3. Calculation of vertices]. Also, the materials of the new vertices are calculated according to the method described in the above [2-4. Determination of vertex materials].

[0216] Next, the processor 81 simplifies the vertices (step S8) and proceeds to the next step. For example, the processor 81 simplifies each vertex updated by the process of step S7 according to the method described in [2-5. Simplification of Vertices]. Then, the processor 81 updates the SVO data stored in the memory so as to indicate each vertex obtained by the processes of step S7 and step S8. Note that the processes of step S7 and step S8 do not need to recalculate the vertices for the entire voxel data, and may be executed only for the portions where the contents of the voxels are changed in the process of step S5.

[0217] Next, the processor 81 updates the display mesh of the voxel object based on the SVO data stored in the memory (step S9) and proceeds to the next step. Note that the positions of the vertices of the display mesh and the materials of the polygons of the display mesh (for example, the materials set for the vertices of the polygon) are calculated according to the methods described in [2-6. Generation of Mesh] and [2-6-1. Determination of Materials of Display Mesh]. In step S9, the processor 81 updates the display mesh data stored in the memory so as to indicate the positions and materials of the vertices of the updated display mesh. Note that the processor 81 may start the processes of step S10 and subsequent steps described later without waiting for the completion of step S9 and execute them in parallel. In that case, step S9 needs to be completed before the start of step S13 described later.

[0218] Next, the processor 81 updates the mesh for determining voxel objects based on the SVO data stored in the memory (step S10), and proceeds to the next step. Note that the position of each vertex of the determination mesh and the material of each polygon of the determination mesh (for example, the material set for each vertex of the polygon) are calculated according to the methods described in the above [2-6. Generation of Mesh] and [2-6-2. Determination of the Material of the Determination Mesh]. In step S10 above, the processor 81 updates the determination mesh data stored in the memory so as to indicate the position and material of each vertex of the updated determination mesh.

[0219] Note that in the example shown in FIG. 33, the generation process of the determination mesh in step S10 above is executed every frame. However, the generation process of the determination mesh does not necessarily have to be executed every frame. For example, when the collision determination process in step S11 described later is executed only in frames that satisfy a predetermined condition, the processor 81 may execute the generation process of the determination mesh in the frame in which the collision determination is performed. Further, the processor 81 may execute the generation process of the determination mesh for the voxels within the area in the game space where the collision determination in step S11 above is performed. For example, in a situation where there are no objects to be collided with other than voxel objects around the player character in the game space (that is, a situation where only the collision determination between the player character and the voxel objects around it needs to be performed), the processor 81 may execute the generation process of the determination mesh for the voxels within a predetermined range based on the player character.

[0220] Next, the processor 81 performs collision detection for each object in the game space based on the determination mesh data and object data stored in the memory (step S11), and proceeds to the next step. For example, for a voxel object, the processor 81 uses the determination mesh, and for an object that is not a voxel object, the processor 81 uses a determination area with a predetermined shape set for the object to perform collision detection. In this embodiment, the collision detection in step S11 is performed in consideration of the speed calculated in step S2 above. That is, the processor 81 performs collision detection using the position when moving at the above speed as the position of each object.

[0221] In this embodiment, the presence or absence of the following contacts, for example, is determined by the collision detection in step S11 above. · Contact between the player character performing actions such as movement and punch actions and the terrain object · Contact between the character performing the action of lifting (the ice object) and the ice object · Contact between the ice object released by the throwing action of the player character and the terrain object If it is determined in the collision detection in step S11 above that the objects are in contact with each other, then in the process of step S2 in the next frame, a process reflecting the result of the contact between the objects is executed, or in the process of step S3 in the next frame, it is determined that an update event has occurred.

[0222] Next, the processor 81 controls the operation of each object in the game space (step S12) and proceeds to the next step. For example, for the player character, the processor 81 performs control to cause the player character to move and perform various actions based on the operation data acquired in step S1 above. And when a predetermined action occurs, the processor 81 generates an area for collision determination corresponding to the action within the game space. Also, the processor 81 controls the ice object to move in the direction in which the ice object is released in response to the throwing action by the player character. Note that in one execution of the above step S12, for an operation (for example, an action by the player character) that is performed over a plurality of frames, each object is controlled so that the operation for one frame progresses. As a result, by repeatedly executing the process of step S12 over a plurality of frames, each object performs a series of operations related to movement and various actions. Also, the position of the object is basically determined to be the position after moving at the speed calculated in step S2 above. However, when it is determined by the collision determination in step S11 above that the object contacts another object and the movement is obstructed by the contacted other object, the position of the object may be determined so as not to change. And in step S12 above, the processor 81 updates the object data stored in the memory to be the content indicating the object after the control in step S12 above.

[0223] Next, the processor 81 generates a game image (step S13) and proceeds to the next step. For example, the processor 81 generates a game image by performing rendering on each polygon of the display mesh of the voxel object and each polygon of the object other than the voxel object based on a virtual camera. Note that each polygon of the display mesh is rendered using rendering settings such as a texture corresponding to the material set for the polygon according to the method described in [2-6-1. Determination of the material of the display mesh]. The game image generated in step S13 above is output to the display device and displayed at a cycle of once per frame.

[0224] Next, the processor 81 determines whether to end the game (step S14). For example, the processor 81 makes an affirmative determination in step S14 when a predetermined operation input for ending the game is performed by the user or when the condition for ending the game is satisfied. Then, when the processor 81 ends the game, it ends the processing according to this flowchart. On the other hand, when the processor 81 does not end the game, it returns to step S1 above and repeats the processing. Thereafter, the series of processes of steps S1 to S14 above are repeatedly executed until it is determined in step S14 that the game is ended.

[0225] As described above, in this embodiment, the appearance of the object based on the voxel can be made to be the appearance based on the material of the voxel updated during the game, and the action based on the material can be generated in the game. Therefore, for an object based on voxel data, a game that reflects the material can be executed with respect to the appearance and the action that occurs in the game.

[0226] In the above description, an example is used in which a voxel object is defined by generating a three-dimensional mesh based on voxel data set in voxels in a three-dimensional space. However, a voxel object may be defined based on voxel data set in two-dimensional voxels.

[0227] Also, the game system 1 may be any device, such as a portable game device, any portable electronic device (such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), mobile phone, smartphone, personal computer, camera, tablet, etc.). In this case, the input device for performing a user operation for operating a player character or the like does not have to be the left controller 3, the right controller 4, or the touch panel 13, etc., and may be another controller, mouse, touch pad, touch panel, trackball, keyboard, cross key, slide pad, etc.

[0228] Also, in the above description, an example is used in which the information processing is performed by the game system 1 respectively. However, at least a part of the above processing steps may be performed by another device. For example, when the game system 1 is further configured to be communicable with another device (for example, another server, another information processing device, another game device, another mobile terminal, etc.), the above processing steps may be further executed by the cooperation of the other device. In this way, by performing at least a part of the above processing steps by another device, the same processing as the above-described processing becomes possible. Also, the above-described information processing can be executed by the cooperation between one processor or a plurality of processors included in an information processing system constituted by at least one information processing device. Also, in the above embodiment, the processor 81 of the game system 1 can perform information processing by executing a predetermined program. However, a part or all of the above processing may be performed by a dedicated circuit provided in the game system 1.

[0229] Here, according to the above-described modification example, it is possible to implement the present invention even in a system form of so-called cloud computing, a distributed wide-area network, and a local network system form. For example, in a system form of a distributed local network, it is also possible to execute the above processing in cooperation between a stationary information processing device (stationary game device) and a portable information processing device (portable game device). Needless to say, in these system forms, there is no particular limitation on which device performs the above-described processing, and the present invention can be realized regardless of any processing sharing.

[0230] In addition, the processing order, setting values, conditions used for determination, etc. used in the above-described information processing are merely examples, and it goes without saying that the present embodiment can be realized even with other orders, values, and conditions.

[0231] Further, the above program may be supplied to the game system 1 not only through an external storage medium such as an external memory but also through a wired or wireless communication line. Further, the above program may be pre-recorded in a non-volatile storage device inside the device. Note that, as the information storage medium for storing the above program, in addition to a non-volatile memory, a CD-ROM, a DVD, or an optical disk-shaped storage medium similar thereto, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, etc. may also be used. Further, as the information storage medium for storing the above program, a volatile memory for storing the above program may also be used. Such a storage medium can be referred to as a computer-readable recording medium. For example, by causing a computer or the like to read and execute the programs of these recording media, various functions described above can be provided.

[0232] As described above, the present invention has been described in detail. However, the above description is merely an exemplification of the present invention in every aspect and is not intended to limit its scope. Needless to say, various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Also, those skilled in the art will understand that an equivalent scope can be implemented based on the description of the present invention and common technical knowledge from the description of the specific embodiments of the present invention. Further, it should be understood that the terms used in this specification are used in the meaning commonly used in the relevant field unless otherwise specified. Therefore, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this specification have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. In case of contradiction, this specification (including definitions) shall prevail.

Industrial Applicability

[0233] As described above, the present invention can be used as a game program, a game system, a game device, a game processing method, etc. that can execute a game that reflects a material with respect to the appearance of an object based on voxel data and the actions that occur in the game.

Explanation of Signs

[0234] 1... Information processing system 2... Main body device 3... Left controller 4... Right controller 11... Housing 12... Display 13... Touch panel 32, 52... Analog stick 42, 64... Terminal 81... Processor 82... Network communication unit 83... Controller communication unit 85... DRAM

Claims

1. Cause a computer of an information processing apparatus to generate a display mesh corresponding to the voxel data defined in a virtual space, the voxel data including at least set density indicating the degree to which the space defined by each of a plurality of voxels is virtually occupied by content and set material IDs indicating the types of the content, the number of the material IDs being settable up to a first number, the display mesh being drawn based on a virtual camera, the vertex coordinates of the display mesh being determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the display mesh being determined based on at least the plurality of material IDs included in the voxel data; generate a voxel update range in the virtual space based on game processing; in response to generation of the voxel update range, change at least any one of the material IDs of voxels corresponding to the voxel update range in the virtual space to a different material ID for each of the voxels; update the display mesh corresponding to the updated voxel data; generate an action in the game corresponding to the material of a collision position based on a collision determination between a determination mesh used for collision determination in the virtual space, the vertex coordinates of the determination mesh being determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the determination mesh being determined based on at least the plurality of material IDs included in the voxel data, and a determination shape corresponding to a determination target based on game processing; and cause the virtual space including the display mesh to be drawn based on the vertex coordinates of the display mesh and a texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh. A game program

2. The computer causes a first voxel update range to be generated from among a plurality of types of voxel update ranges when a first event occurs in the game, and for each of the voxels having a first material ID among the voxels corresponding to the first voxel update range, change the first material ID to a second material ID. The game program according to claim 1

3. ​ The game program according to claim 2, wherein the computer generates the first voxel update range at a collision position based on a collision determination between a first object having a third material ID and the determination mesh.

4. The first object is associated with unique voxel data independent of the voxel data, a position in the virtual space of a unique voxel space defined by the unique voxel data, and a unique display mesh and a unique determination mesh based on the unique voxel data. The game program according to claim 3, wherein the computer decreases the density in the unique voxel data of the first object based on a collision determination between the first object and the determination mesh.

5. The computer controls a player character in the virtual space based on an operation input, and moves the first object in a predetermined direction based on a first action of the player character corresponding to the operation input. The game program according to claim 4.

6. The computer controls a player character in the virtual space based on an operation input, and decreases the set physical strength of the player character when the material of the determination mesh at the collision position is the first material ID based on a collision between the player character and the determination mesh. The game program according to claim 2.

7. In the voxel data, a voxel internal ratio indicating the ratio of the material indicated by the material ID in each voxel is further set for each voxel. The game program according to claim 1.

8. The computer when a second event occurs in the game, generates a second voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges, and changes the material ID having the lowest ratio based on the voxel internal ratio among the material IDs of the voxels not having the fourth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the second voxel update range to the fourth material ID. The game program according to claim 7.

9. The computer further controls a player character based on an operation input, Cause the player character to perform a second action based on a predetermined operation input, When the second action is performed, generate a third voxel update range and a fourth voxel update range larger than the third voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges with respect to a predetermined direction from the player character, Reduce the density of at least a part of the voxels corresponding to the third voxel update range, Change all of the material IDs of the voxels corresponding to the fourth voxel update range to a fifth material ID, or change any of the material IDs to the fifth material ID and set the voxel ratio to the ratio at which all within the voxel becomes the material indicated by the fifth material ID. The game program according to claim 7.

10. On the computer, When the second action is performed, Generate a fifth voxel update range larger than the fourth voxel update range, Change the material ID with the lowest ratio based on the voxel ratio among the material IDs of the voxels corresponding to the fifth voxel update range that do not have the fifth material ID to the fifth material ID. The game program according to claim 9.

11. Voxel data defined in a virtual space, for each of a plurality of voxels, a density indicating the degree to which the space defined by the voxel is virtually occupied by the content, and a material ID indicating the type of the content, and at least a material ID that can be set up to a first number, which is plural. Based on the voxel data, generate a display mesh corresponding to the voxel data and drawn based on a virtual camera, wherein the vertex coordinates of the display mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the display mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data. Generate a voxel update range within the virtual space based on game processing, In response to the generation of the voxel update range, for each of the voxels in the voxel data that correspond to the voxel update range within the virtual space, at least any one of the material IDs is changed to a different material ID. Update the display mesh corresponding to the updated voxel data. A determination mesh used for collision determination within the virtual space, wherein the vertex coordinates of the determination mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the determination mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data. Based on the collision determination between the determination mesh and a determination shape corresponding to a determination target based on game processing, generate an in-game effect corresponding to the material of the determination mesh at the collision position. A game system that performs rendering of the virtual space including the display mesh based on the vertex coordinates of the display mesh and a texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh.

12. The game system is When a first event occurs in the game, Generate a first voxel update range among a plurality of types of voxel update ranges. The game system according to claim 11, wherein for each of the voxels having a first material ID among the voxels corresponding to the first voxel update range, the first material ID is changed to a second material ID.

13. The game system according to claim 12, wherein a first voxel update range is generated at the collision position based on the collision determination between a first object having a third material ID and the determination mesh.

14. A unique voxel data independent of the voxel data, a position within the virtual space of a unique voxel space defined by the unique voxel data, and a unique display mesh and a unique determination mesh based on the unique voxel data are associated with the first object. The game system according to claim 13, wherein based on the collision determination between the first object and the determination mesh, the density in the unique voxel data of the first object is decreased.

15. The game system is Based on the operation input, control the player character within the virtual space, The game system according to claim 14, wherein the first object is moved in a predetermined direction based on a first action of the player character corresponding to the operation input.

16. The game system, Based on the operation input, control the player character within the virtual space, The game system according to claim 12, wherein based on the collision between the player character and the determination mesh, when the material of the determination mesh at the collision position is the first material ID, the set physical strength of the player character is decreased.

17. In the voxel data, for each voxel, a voxel internal ratio indicating the ratio of the material indicated by the material ID within the voxel is further set, according to the game system of claim 11.

18. The game system, When a second event occurs in the game, Generate a second voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges, Among the voxel IDs of the voxels that do not have the fourth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the second voxel update range, change the material ID with the smallest ratio based on the voxel internal ratio to the fourth material ID, according to the game system of claim 17.

19. The game system further, Control the player character based on the operation input, Cause the player character to perform a second action based on a predetermined operation input, When the second action is performed, generate a third voxel update range and a fourth voxel update range larger than the third voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges with respect to a predetermined direction from the player character, Decrease the density of at least a part of the voxels corresponding to the third voxel update range, Change all the material IDs of the voxels corresponding to the fourth voxel update range to the fifth material ID, or change any of the material IDs to the fifth material ID and set the voxel internal ratio to the ratio at which all within the voxel becomes the material indicated by the fifth material ID, according to the game system of claim 17.

20. The game system, When the second action is performed, generate a fifth voxel update range that is larger than the fourth voxel update range, change the material ID of the voxel that does not have the fifth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the fifth voxel update range to the material ID with the lowest ratio based on the in-voxel ratio, in the material ID, in the game system according to claim 19.

21. A game device including a processor, wherein the processor generates a display mesh corresponding to the voxel data and drawn based on a virtual camera, based on voxel data defined in a virtual space, where for each of a plurality of voxels, at least a density indicating the degree to which the space defined by the voxel is virtually occupied by the content and a material ID indicating the type of the content, where the material ID can be set up to a first number of multiple ones, are set, and the vertex coordinates of the display mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the display mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data, generates a voxel update range in the virtual space based on game processing, in response to the generation of the voxel update range, for each of the voxels corresponding to the voxel update range in the virtual space among the voxel data, change at least any one of the material IDs to a different material ID, updates the display mesh corresponding to the updated voxel data, based on a collision determination between a determination mesh used for collision determination in the virtual space, where the vertex coordinates of the determination mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the determination mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data, and a determination shape corresponding to an object to be determined based on game processing, generate an in-game action corresponding to the material of the determination mesh at the collision position. A game device that draws the virtual space including the display mesh based on the vertex coordinates of the display mesh and the texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh.

22. The processor When a first event occurs in the game, generates a first voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges, and for each voxel having a first material ID among the voxels corresponding to the first voxel update range, changes the first material ID to a second material ID. The game device according to claim 21.

23. In the voxel data, a voxel ratio indicating the ratio of the material indicated by the material ID in the voxel is further set for each voxel. The game device according to claim 21.

24. The processor When a second event occurs in the game, generates a second voxel update range among a plurality of types of the voxel update ranges, and among the material IDs of the voxels not having a fourth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the second voxel update range, changes the material ID having the lowest ratio based on the voxel ratio to the fourth material ID. The game device according to claim 23.

25. In an information processing system, voxel data defined in a virtual space, for each of a plurality of voxels, a density indicating the degree to which the space defined by the voxel is virtually occupied by the content, and a material ID indicating the type of the content, and at least a voxel data in which a material ID that can be set up to a first number, which is a plurality, is set. Based on this, a display mesh corresponding to the voxel data and drawn based on a virtual camera is generated. The vertex coordinates of the display mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the display mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data. Based on game processing, generate a voxel update range in the virtual space. In response to the generation of the voxel update range, for each of the voxels in the voxel data that correspond to the voxel update range within the virtual space, at least any one of the material IDs is changed to a different material ID. The display mesh is updated corresponding to the updated voxel data. A determination mesh used for collision determination within the virtual space, wherein the vertex coordinates of the determination mesh are determined based on at least the density included in the voxel data, and the material of the determination mesh is determined based on at least a plurality of the material IDs included in the voxel data. Based on the collision determination between the determination mesh and the determination shape corresponding to the determination target based on the game process, an in-game action corresponding to the material of the determination mesh at the collision position is generated. A game processing method for causing the virtual space including the display mesh to be drawn based on the vertex coordinates of the display mesh and the texture corresponding to the material of the display mesh.

26. In the information processing system When a first event occurs in the game Among the plurality of types of voxel update ranges, a first voxel update range is generated. The game processing method according to claim 25, wherein for each of the voxels having the first material ID among the voxels corresponding to the first voxel update range, the first material ID is changed to the second material ID.

27. In the voxel data, for each voxel, a voxel internal ratio indicating the ratio of the material indicated by the material ID within the voxel is further set. The game processing method according to claim 25.

28. In the information processing system When a second event occurs in the game Among the plurality of types of voxel update ranges, a second voxel update range is generated. Among the material IDs of each of the voxels not having the fourth material ID among the voxels corresponding to the second voxel update range, the material ID having the smallest ratio based on the voxel internal ratio is changed to the fourth material ID. The game processing method according to claim 27.

Images